Mummy's poppies

In 1934, when my mother, Esther Hollander, was 15 years old, she painted her poppies picture.  For the exhibition I have constructed a knitted homage to her painting.  (Thanks to Sian for making the cornflowers for me).  I am so proud of it - hey Julie, send me a photo of Mummy's daffodils and maybe I'll try that next - later!

Busy, busy, busy

Excellent work this week - all working well and enjoying our contributions for the exhibition.  Well done all who came out in the ghastly weather!  We've started leaving some of our finished work in the storage shed at the Arts Centre.  Some great things happening.  Keep watching for more and more updates.  Well done to Elona for persevering with the swatches to make absolutely certain the gauge is right before starting your cardigan.  It's so easy to neglect this step in our impatience to start, only to have the end result be a big disappointment.
Welcome back Edith & Gillian, from your travels.  Christine is probably our most prolific artist!  Her large birds are amazing - see the photos.  Elaine has produced a basket of exquisite sock-wool birds, and Alison's cushions are providing inspiration for many.
We need to decide on process to list for the pieces we are happy to be sold - it would be good to do that quite soon.  Carry on the GREAT work!

Back with a hiss and a roar!!

What an amazing lot of talent!  We brought together quite a few of the items we have crafted towards the exhibition today.  WOW!!!  Check out the new photos here.  It's a great big countdown now, looking at the publicity as well...  More here soon.
Elaine's wee sock birds are exquisite and we now have a basketful.  Edith is back with a vengeance, bringing shells, sea creatures and veges!  I need to take a lot more photos - will do that later in the week.

Term 2 - countdown to the exhibition

Hi all - we had our first classes yesterday.  Everyone is still keen, and most productive.  We have decided to just have the afternoon and evening classes this term - combining the two daytime ones, as a few people have indicated that they are not always able to come, so there is room for all in one session.  We will start that next week - I will email, as well as ring those without email.
No new photos yet, but some great things happening.  Christine's pictures are just beautiful - she will have a lovely display in the exhibition.  Natasha's blue and white baby blanket is amazing - especially since she was an absolute crochet beginner just a few weeks ago.  Robyn continues to produce inspirational pieces - her Orewa landscape is one of my favourites to date.
While we are on the exhibition countdown, we are also continuing with specifically themed lessons, with knitting in the round on the agenda for next week.  I will post the full course outline for this term soon.
Next week we will be labelling all completed items to date and allocated a position for each.

Holidays

Well, a few people turned up at my house last week and I'm expecting more tomorrow.  We are busy, busy, busy.  We need more insects please, and perhaps some more leaves, using Sian's wool - she is keeping the pohutukawa tree the same colours.
I have been given another big box of yarn - have spent most of Easter weekend knitting, naturally.  One of the bundles was for a jersey this person (thanks Sue!) gave me - she had started knitting a mohair jersey for a small adult/large child.  Had knitted half the back.  I have finished it!  Felt it was the least I could do to say thanks for the rest of the wool.  I hope she has a niece, friend, etc she can give it to - I suspect she started it years ago when her daughters were kids - they are all grown up now.  (Sound familiar?)
Anyway, I've also worked on my 'poppies' piece - it's almost finished, and I have a few butterflies on the go - a bit fiddly, but next I want to make a huge one, using about 8 strands of dk - will post a photo when I do it.
Counting down now to the exhibition.  I've just started to feel a bit of urgency!
Keep up the good work!  :)  And check out what our knitting friends in the north got up to this ANZAC day!  Go to matayarnas.wordpress.com

Lesson 10 - final for term 1

Although this is the final class for term one, we are continuing in the school holidays - I will be welcoming any and all knitters/crocheters to my home at 1/60 Riverside Road in Orewa all day and evening both Wednesdays.  Please park in the 'Students carparking' area just past the roundabout coming from the beach - we are the second house past that - with the wooden fence.
Patrick is on standby to man the coffee machine!
Today's sessions were even more inspiring, if you can believe it!  Scroll down to see the new photos.
On 11th May - the 2nd class of term 2 - we will be bringing all the work we have completed so far to do a stocktake of all the little details we need to to finish, take some photos for the booklet, and generally start the countdown in earnest.  I am not the least bit stressed ... yet!

We talked today about a range of things - what we will do after the exhibition (!), and all sorts of great ideas for Knitcetera as an entity.  See more about this later.  I think we have enough to do at the moment - although I have a LOT of ideas up my sleeve.

The scarf most people are contributing to is growing by the week - Sian estimates we have around 30 metres to date - fantastic.  It is truly a piece of art, with many different stitches, colours, textures, embellishments - a real joy.  After the exhibition we will review what it can be made into for the future.  Some suggestions are: parts can be made into scarves for wearing.  We can sew them together to make blankets, we can display it elsewhere.  Who knows - we may come to a community centre or school near you.

We have enough leaves for the pohutukawa tree, thanks - I never thought I'd be saying that!  The main things we are concentrating on now are fishy things, and insects.  Oh, and that reminds me - have heard from Glenys - Seagardens Aotearoa is DEFINITELY going to be part of Knitcetera - so exciting!

Lesson 9 - looking at Easter... and continuing

I started a little chick in an egg as an Easter idea.  Christine is knitting a rabbit.  Apart from that, we didn't get very 'Eastery'!  Everyone's far too focussed on the exhibition.  Barbara D brought along her magnificent scarecrow!  She insists he's not finished yet, although it's hard to see how he can be improved.
Jennie's roses are looking stunning, as her arty scarves with matching hats.  Elona's flowers are a definite work of art, and Natasha's baby blanket is so cool.  Trudi's finished her pumpkin - it's gorgeous.  She's onto mushrooms now.  Sian showed us the amazing pohutukawa flowers she has designed - we need to keep making leaves for the tree - Sian will provide the wool.  She will do the flowers - no photo yet - I'll save that one!
Many are contributing to the fast-growing scarf, with all sorts of embellishments, colours and textures, and we are also now making insects, etc.  Keep the leaves coming - I think we'll probably have enough flowers soon.
We're still having fun!!  Not as many people came this week - just as long as you keep knitting, people!

The weather was very cold today - a south-westerly blowing straight off the estuary, brrrr.  And now, with daylight saving finished, it's very dark very early.  A great lot of people are coming to these classes though - all three groups are great fun, and very productive too.

Today I handed out a sheet for each person to give me a little 'blurb' about themselves and their experiences of knitting and crochet and their attitudes towards knitting as art.  This info, along with a photo of each, will go into a booklet for sale (to cover costs) during the exhibition.  I'll also email the form so those who weren't there today (if they have email) also have a copy.