A post about knitting

When someone knits something for you, it's a way of saying they love you. Knitting can be incredibly naff, I'll admit. There are some awful, awful patterns and yarns out there.
I will never knit a pair of trousers, or a bikini, or a skirt. You will never see me knit anything with a reindeer or bobbles in the pattern.
But baby hats and cardigans fall from my needles like petals; little tiny garments for little tiny people whose very existence revolves around milk and sleep and love. And when they are adorned in something knitted, they are wearing that love, literally.
Knitting is a winter activity; it's for sitting in front of the fire, slippers on, hot tea on the coffee table. It's what hot biscuits out of the oven and costume dramas were invented for.
At lunchtime on rainy weekdays, I crave going to the knitting shop. I'll look at all the yarns, browse the patterns, but hardly ever buy anything. I have a big enough stash of gifted yarn and leftovers at home that should keep me going for some time. And I can honestly say I don't mind if it's raining on the weekend. That just means less work in the garden and more time inside knitting.
Knitting has its own objects of desire. For me, only metal knitting needles will do. Old, slightly bent metal needles found in a tin at the Sallys are like gold to me. They're my treasure. I have more pairs of needles than I know what to do with; it drives my partner crazy. I've put them all in an old jug, where they stick up like petal-less flowers.
Knitting doesn't have to be a practical thing, like a piece of clothing or a blanket. I've met women who knit everything under the sun from "tree cosies" to genitalia. I recently saw a Dylan Thomas poem knitted by more than 1000 people who contributed a letter each, and in the United States a group of knitters covered an entire petrol station in blankets, turning it into a fluffy piece of art.
I'm a relative newbie to knitting, although my mother taught me the basics when I was a child. She's an exceptional knitter, as if she was born with needles in her hands. Knitting has a language, you have to learn it. Reading a pattern is at first like looking at hieroglyphics or a code to be broken.
It wasn't until five years ago, with the imminent birth of my nephew, that I knitted my first garment. When my sister was still pregnant, we visited an aunt who had piles of ancient knitting patterns. Something in that pile of patterns inspired me. I didn't remember which was knit and which was purl; I borrowed a stack of patterns and got my sister to re-teach me.
The first thing I made, from a 1970s pattern, was a striped red, purple and brown jersey that my nephew wore for about five minutes before it was too small. It took months to make, with lots of unravelling, swearing and reknitting.
By the time my own son was on his way, I was getting pretty good at this knitting lark. So far I've knitted him cardies and jerseys, a hoodie, a hat and a toy bird.
Most of what I make is for babies - me being in my 30s, lots of my friends are having children. And I get bored making anything bigger.
Recently I made a hat for a friend who was undergoing a course of chemo. The best way I could help her fight her disease was to show her I loved her. So I knitted.
Last year we bought our first house. It used to belong to a woman who had lived there with her husband and three children. Over the years, the husband had died, the children had grown up. And when she died, the house was put on the market. The first time we went to see it, her things were still inside. I admired the neatly ordered rows of crochet in a blanket spread smoothly over the spare bed, the unfinished projects in her knitting basket. It was clear, this woman had a lot of love.
Recently, my love of knitting has extended to crochet. One of my most treasured possessions is a crocheted shawl made by my father. It represents hours of time and love and care.
I met a woman on the train one day who, as soon as she sat down next to me, took a ball of wool and a crochet hook out of her bag and began stabbing at a scarf she was making. "It helps with stress, " she told me.
Soon after that, I started work on an epic project - a blanket made from 315 crocheted granny squares for my son's bed. I taught myself how to crochet, and gradually the piles of squares began to grow. I finished it just as the first cold southerlies of autumn came to town, and now when I tuck my little boy in at night, I pull this blanket up around his chin.
I might leave the room then, but my love stays wrapped around him.

*This story appeared in The Press and The Dominion Post's Your Weekend magazine on June 4.

Craft brag

Remember ages ago when I said I was making a single bed blanket for Harper? I needed 315 crocheted granny squares. I gave myself a year to do the project in, starting with learning how to crochet a granny square.

Nine months of crocheting, playing with designs and sourcing wool later; ta-dah! The finished blanket. I think it looks glorious.

But then, I am biased.

In other news, I whipped up a few bits for a new baby at the weekend while it was raining. It was rare for me to just sit and knit. Usually, we're outside, or doing chores, or something.

Hope she likes them.

My year of craft

2010's craft quota was mostly taken up by a rather ambitious project to crochet a single-sized blanket for Harper's bed. This was ambitious because:
1. To crochet a single sized blanket, you need approximately 300+ crocheted squares.
2. I have never crocheted before.
I was inspired by this blanket, made by my Aunty Mona, which used to grace my bed when I was a youngun. It's in pretty rough nick now with some of the stitches coming apart and the yarn disintegrating, and we use it in the lounge these days. I'm also not much of a fan of the multicoloured granny squares.

So I got me a book for learning and learnt me how to make a one-coloured granny square. Turns out it's pretty easy.

The main colour, a lovely mid-blue, is leftovers that my mother gave me ages ago. She had heaps and heaps of it, and I figured even if all the jersies I ever made for Harper were in that yarn, I'd still have loads of it leftover. The red is from a cardi I was going to make myself but gave up on, and the other colours have been bought in dribs and drabs on sale at various times. My stack of completed squares has grown and grown. I mainly crochet on the train on my way to and from work. I'm often the only person who has a seat to themselves on the train. Sometimes I wonder if the crocheting is the reason.

I also whipped up a few baby cardis this year, and fell in love with this simple raglan sleeve pattern. I've got another one on my needles at the moment; the fronts and back took one afternoon.

But this little number below took me months, mainly because I am rather a useless knitter and made so many mistakes it wasn't funny. I started it when wee Lyla was born in May, and finally sent it off to her when she was about five months old.

Take that, Bute Street fence!

A few weeks ago, when I had spare time, I took part in a radical protest against - well, a boring fence. See here. I'm the girl in the brown hoodie, and AngeSweeney are wandering around too.

It will all be ok

I've just interviewed stiX of Outdoor Knit (aka the red headed devil child's geeky mother) for a story on their work decorating our glorious city with even more glorious knitting and craft. Pretty great. They're the people behind the "It Will All Be Ok" cross stitched into a wire fence on the bypass.

Check out these amazing graffiti knitting projects:

This beauty by Carol Hummel.

The International Fiber Collaborative beautified an old gas station.

And this beauty is by the Convent Garden guerrillas, pic courtesy of Knit the City and Yarnbombing.

I love when ...

... the thing I made wears a thing I made.

A new person

This is Jessica Anne. She's the Postie and my new niece, and Harper's first girl cousin. We're meeting her at Christmas, and I for one cannot wait. Well done Nigel and Elizabeth - she looks gorgeous ... the other relatives will have to wrestle her off me.

With a little help from my mother and Jessica's Granny Annie, I made her this bolero style cardigan with that lovely Cleckheaton wool I used on Harper's cardigan. And I whipped up a wee crocheted flower to make it more girlie. It's my first ever crocheted thing and I quite like it. I may crochet something else this winter, like a hat or something. Stay tuned.

Two things well made

The kid has been asleep for nearly two hours, so I have time to show off what crafty goodness I've had on my needles of late.

Exhibit number one is a wrap cardigan, made in Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8ply (colour Camel) using Dairne's own pattern. So nice. The kid will have to bulk up quite a bit to fit it though. Next winter perhaps? I've been paying more attention to finishing garments, getting the sewing up to look pretty. It's usually the bit I rush and make mistakes on, so I made an effort to take my time and get it right with this one. I'm very pleased with the result, thankyouverymuch.

Exhibit number two is my first ever hat. It's in Cleckheaton Cocoon 4ply and Patons Dreamtime 4ply. I don't know if it's kosher to mix yarn like that, but I couldn't get the colours I wanted in the same yarn, so there you go. This is a Moda pattern with a matching envelope-neckline jumper, both of which I am making for a yet-to-be-born little dude due at the end of the year.

All By Myself

Finally, I finished the red and purple jersey from Cleckheaton's Simple Knits For Babies in 8 Ply that I started three months ago, and I did it all by myself, thankyouverymuch. No mother-in-law needed to help with neckband, though I did tear my hair out trying to figure out what 'knit up' means. When I worked out what it meant, the neckband and cardigan opening only took about an hour to finish. This is for a 6-9 month old, and H has a little growing to go till he fits it. Spurred on by my success at completing a garment without needing psychiatric treatment, I am now making a little something for my upcoming niece/nephew, a hoodie for H when he's a toddler, and I'm planning other little projects when I can find suitable yarn. I've been stuck to the couch over the last week watching the Olympics (I nearly threw up watching Mahe Drysdale's race, and was misty-eyed seeing him so ravaged by the effort he put in. I love you, Mahe.) I visited Dairne at the weekend and scored some luscious patterns for babies and toddlers to keep me in projects until the next Olympics. Dairne's knitting is so beautiful, and her daughter Aoife who is due in a month is one lucky wee babe to sport such lovely work.

A giveaway

Craft 2.0 was on at the weekend, and I had a good time as per usual, but have to admit I have lost my jewellery mojo. I'm now more interested in making things for specific people - mainly sewing and knitting and cooking. So, sorry beads - I love ya, but it's time for us to part.

And in that spirit, I am giving away the above earrings to you my dear readers. All you have to do is leave a comment ... please no anonymous ones. Tell me what top five things are rocking your world right now and which pair of earrings you'd prefer.

Much craftiness

I am pleased to report I have overcome my fear of sewing machines. It was a fear I didn't even know I had until I borrowed this beast from my pal Ange Lee (not my sister Ange) to sew up some receiving blankets for the kid. When I was 11 or 12, I nicked my thumb on a sewing machine needle in sewing class, and it happened to be the same day Lisa and I were pulled out of class to have our rubella shots. Then as the Elnita sat on my dining room table, I just felt so scared of it! Crazy! But anyhoo, I've sewn up one receiving blanket and will do another one this afternoon. Ange L and I are starting actual dressmaking lessons at Wellington High on Monday and I'm glad I overcame the fear before going. Now I can't wait to see what things we're going to learn, and I'll start scouring op shops for fabric like my favourite crafters Tiny Happy, Anemone, Stripy Sock Studio and Toast & Cupcakes. No pillowcase will be safe with me around. I'm even going to buy a sewing machine on trade me. *squeal* Any recommendations?

At craft night last night I finished a project that's been hanging around for a while - the purple cardigan in merino that I started late last year. The top picture is a better indication of the colour, it's really dark. The wool is beautiful to knit with, but when I got to the neckband I just panicked and the Postie's mum had to bail me out. But now it's done and the kid isn't too big for it, so I consider it a complete and utter craft victory.

Last night I also made a start on a jersey for when the kid is 9 months old (or thereabouts) in red double knit that I've had hanging around in my craft drawer for a couple of years. I'm just a bit concerned the colours are a little girly - or perhaps just the lilac buttons are girly? Perhaps all red buttons would be better? I have six months to finish it, so here's hoping I don't panic at the neckband stage again...

The best laid plans of mice and mums

This year, as well as having Harper and getting him to through his first year without major mishap, I have a couple of plans. (Insert Mr Burns-style evil hand gesture here)


These plans are:


1. Learn to play the bass with the intention of playing on an actual stage with an actual band, and write a small book of essays about why chicks who play bass totally rule. In order to do this, I will actually have to pick up my guitar, dust it off, tune it, and learn to play it. I have a set of DVDs that I bought when I first got the guitar nearly two years ago that I have watched maybe once. This goal will also require me to cut my nails. I bit my nails like a cannibal until 2004. Till now I have kept them pretty short and functional but thanks to the beauty of nature, being pregnant made them steely strong and fast-growing, so I let them get a bit longer and prettier. They are exactly how I always wanted them to be, but to really conquer the frets, the nails must go.

A gratiuitous shot of my pretty nails, so you can all see the sacrifice I am making for art.

2. Learn to sew in order to clothe my new body shape, which despite me 'shedding my baby weight' as women's magazines like to say, is rather a bit larger than it was before. My hips in particular, which rattled like a cage when I was pregnant, now say 'no' to that old pair of jeans, they say 'get out of here' to shorts that used to hang off me, they say 'who are you kidding, girlfriend?' to that once-too big skirt.

Now that I have got through the first messy weeks of motherhood and feel a lot more on top of things, I feel like I can get on with introducing these two plans into my life. How long they last, however is another thing...

Bramwell's Book

I started work on this project some time ago, inspired by This Diary Will Change Your Life. This isn't a diary though, as the thought of doing a different page for each day would have killed me. Instead, there are 67 glorious tasks for Bramwell to do, and I've set up a blog for her to chronicle these tasks over at Bramwell's Book. I'm hoping she enjoys doing and writing about these tasks as much as I've had thinking them up for her.

Just another random Monday

Oh my, it's my last week at work here at the glorious Dompost. Can I get through the next five days of sitting upright? It's a struggle, I tell you. But the finish line is in sight. One story to go and fingers crossed my lovely boss doesn't sidle up to my desk and ask me, can I do just one more?

Some random thoughts for a Monday:

• I've never seen brown grass in Wellington, so the crackly biege of McAlister Park in Vogeltown is quite an alarming sight.
• I didn't do as well at Craft 2.0 this weekend as I thought I would, but am really pleased with my designs and have birthday cards ready to go for the next two years.
• I met a postie on the weekend who was still working three weeks before giving birth to her daughter. She says it was hardly working because her run was only 2kms, but the other day I melted into tears because a walk from Boulcott Street to Manners Street almost crippled me.
• I have about a year's worth of features to paste into my clippings book. It's a crap job and have been putting it off. Though I will swear to keep my clippings book up to date from now on and avoid having to do a swag in one go, both me and the book know I'm kidding myself.

You can't stop the crafting, nobody can stop the crafting ...

Last weekend I felt so nesty that I stayed home and finished off a couple of long standing craft projects that had been hanging around, for years.

And here they are in their full glory:

Leo's sampler
This little puppy started life in 2003 when my friend Tina had her son Jhai. It was going to be for him, but someone beat me to it and did a Noah's Ark or something. Ange and I used to stitch away like old crones back in those days, and were going to call ourselves the Moir Street Crones Club. This was way before craft was cool, and I don't think you'll see many people admit they actually like cross stitch yet. Let me be the first. Anyway, along came Leo Firestone, so he is the lucky recipient of this piece of superb work. It's beside the point that it took me five years on and off, and that I had to get Ange to do the French knots because I'm hopeless.

The Bayeux Tapestry didn't take this long

"And the dish ran away with Elton John ... "

Sweeney's Jersey
This is the first jersey I ever knat purl on. Before this glorious article, the only knitting I had done was in 1985 when my best pal Lisa Robson and I did a 24 hour knitathon for that year's telethon. Needless to say, starting at 8pm on a Saturday night and knitting peggy squares for 24 hours, our eyes were practically bleeding by the end of it. We didn't actually make it to 8pm - I think I lasted till 6pm and nearly fell asleep in the bowl of pudding Mrs Robson had put on my lap.

This jersey is from a series of 1970s patterns called "Your Growing Child" that were given to me and Ange by our aunty Vonnie, well before Sweeney was born. I decided to make it the biggest size so that I had plenty of time to finish it. Good things take time. The Postie's mum did the neckband, and Bramwell made the crocheted loops for the buttons, and many many people helped along the way with advice from casting on to sewing up and everything in between. A triumph.

But that's not all!

Ange made this little cardi for Sweeney but he grew too fast to fit it, and she gave it to me sans buttons. So I put buttons on it and it now awaits his Tiny-ness' arrival.

Yet again, Rona Bramwell (aka Granwell) has outdone herself with this little number - a hedgehog-buttoned jacket and beanie combo. I tell ya, Tiny will be the best dressed kid on the block.

And again with the pretty things

The next craft fair I'll be selling my range of simply glorious shiny things at is coming up Pataka on Saturday 17 November, 10am-4pm.

Be there. Or else...

How to keep your hands warm

Rainy afternoons and chilly almost Spring nights are for making things:
Sweeney's Christmas stocking - a Birds of a Feather pattern, which will eventually look like this:

I've had to do it on lighter linen than the pattern says because it just isn't available here. Funny - the name of the correct dark brown linen is Sparrow. I've also used plainer floss - the verigated floss was very expensive and I had to order it from the US, and found it didn't look as good as the plain DMC colour. I'm hoping to get this done for Christmas this year, if there are just a few more rainy days that I plonk myself down on the couch with it. I also have to find someone to sew up the finished result for me, as I don't sew (yet).

Craft 2.0

About time I posted about Craft 2.0. I shared a table with Jo Hubris whose zines had me blushing behind my earrings, and got to catch up witha few crafty types. And I must say, the wedges at the cafe there may take hours to come out of the kitchen, but they sure are tasty ...

Here's my stall:

Here's the cards I sold:

Here's some of my Sparrow & Tui glittering goodies:

I was also lucky enough to get these lovely things from Scrappers (rattle and bib) and Baibin (sweet bunny) for my bottom drawer to go with the jacket and hat Granny Bramwell made for Tiny. Thank you so much, ladies.

Raffle winners

At last, the winners of the great Oxfam Raffle

* Baby gear goes to Moyra Poipoi of Alicetown
* Grown up gear goes to Lauri Dower of Auckland
* Madame Fancy Pants necklace goes to Jo Hubris
* Toast Clothing bag of his choice goes to Sam Broad (Rhiannon - I will send you his contact details so you guys can sort out what he wants)

All winners will be contacted stat!


Many many many thanks again to all those who sold tickets, donated goods and gave generously.

K xx

Roll up, roll up, get your tickets here

Many, many thanks to all those who have donated goodies to the Great Oxfam Craft Raffle to help us get towards the $5000 we promised Oxfam we would raise for them. I'm sending out copies of the flyer above and tickets to various people in the next few days. There are two prizes - one for babies and one for grown ups, both worth $100s but lucky for me under the $500 limit before the raffle is officially called "gambling" and requiring fancy schmancy printed tickets etc.

If you want to buy tickets, let me know - if you're in Wellington we can meet on a dodgy street corner somewhere. If you're not in Wellington, we'll sort something out. Yes, even you Aucklanders can get a slice of this action.

There are other ways to help us reach our goal - if you buy something through the Oxfam Unwrapped website and quote our team number OTW07_413 (Mortimer Terrace Posse) we get a $20 credit to our fundraising total. Also, if you want to set up a regular donation to Oxfam and quote our team number we can a whopping $250 credit. Or if you are completely nuts and want to get black toenails for a laugh, you could sign up to next year's Trailwalker, quote our team number and we get a $250 credit.

We have until June 15 to raise the remaining $2000, and if we don't, I imagine Oxfam will be sending the boys round to knee-cap us all.