NorthLyndyn Cockney learned to sew and bead in short order. He used uppers his late grandmother started years ago. The result, he said, would have made her proud.Lyndyn Cockney says his new moccasins would have made his grandmother proudJulia Parrish · CBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 12:51 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Lyndyn Cockney learned to sew and bead in short order. He used uppers his late grandmother started years ago. The result, he said, would have made her proud. (Julia Parrish)A Yellowknife high school student is proudly wearing moccasins he made using pieces his late grandmother started before she died.When Lyndyn Cockney, a Grade 12 student at École St. Patrick High School, noticed classroom assistant Karyne Daniels making a pair of moccasins at school he became curious.“I was really interested in that,” Cockney said. “She offered me to make the moccasins, and I took the challenge right away.”Daniels said the class has allotted sewing time, which is when Cockney noticed her working on the moccasins.“I said to Lyndyn that I would for sure show him how to do them, but he would have to take care of the uppers, which is the beaded part of the moccasins,” she said.Karyne Daniels, left, teaches Lyndyn Cockney, right, to make moccasins. (Julia Parrish/CBC)Cockney went home, told his mom his plan and she reminded him they had a pair of uppers, started years ago by his late grandmother.As a child, Cockney said he watched his grandmother make clothing and beaded pieces, but she slowed her crafting in her later years. In 2017 she died from cancer.He said he and her grandmother were close.“Just a really close bond…[I’d] just get in trouble and I’d go to her first, she gets me out of trouble,” he said.Daniels said she was impressed with how quickly Cockney picked up beading. He approached another teacher at his school to teach him and finished the uppers over a weekend.“I beaded until two in the morning,” Cockney said. “Took a day break and then on Sunday night that’s when I finished them.”Cockney said watching family bead his whole life helped him learn the skill quickly.With the uppers complete, Daniels said they got to work on the rest of the moccasins right away. Four days later, Cockney was changing out of his cowboy boots and into his new moccasins.He now wears the moccasins whenever he has the chance, and said he enjoyed the creative experience of sewing and beading.“It changes your mindset, and your mood, you feel that big shift, especially away from technology … you’re doing something that’s traditional that would feed the spirit,” Cockney said. “You feel nice when it’s done and you just dress in comfort.”Cockney said he thinks his grandmother would have been proud. “And me and her would have probably been walking in moccasins all day.”ABOUT THE AUTHORJulia Parrish is a reporter with CBC Yellowknife. You can reach her at julia.parrish@cbc.ca.
Yellowknife teen follows grandmother’s crafting footsteps finishing moccasins with her beaded uppers
