More pics & stories

We have had our professional photographer in to document Knit1 Blog1 and I tell you it always makes a difference. You should have seen the many poses of Lulu, the demands, the angles, the non stop badgering - but the effects were worth it! Never underestimate the cost of having a professional document your work, it always pays for itself, and for Lulu, the fashion world for lambs awaits.

Pics and stories all coming together.

I’ve dabbled in knitting at various times in my life, my mother and both grandmothers having taught and re-taught me as a kid, but it’s really taken off for me over the last few years. There are so many amazing creative people sharing their work online, not just the finished products but techniques, patterns, pitfalls, failed experiments, advice and encouragement. This broad community and these resources have made it possible for me and many others to try new things and broaden our skills.

I started my blog at www.olma.blogspot.com in 2003 as a way to publish short pieces of writing. Slowly it has come to be more and more focused on the things I make, particularly knitting and felting.

I’ve been felting my knitting (this technique is more properly called fulling) for quite some time but feel I’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of the possibilities. I started out making small protective cases for cameras and ipods. Then I made bowls (both crocheted and knitted). These days I continue to experiment with various shapes of vessels, and options for embellishment.
Many people prefer to use a washing machine for felting, but I prefer hand-felting – seeing and feeling the transformation as it happens. The technique I use combines hot soapy water and agitation to open up the scales of the wool and make them shrink and cling together, with intermittent rinses in very cold water to ‘shock’ the wool into shrinking more. Under ‘Felting resources’ in the sidebar of my blog, there are links to several articles about felting and fulling.

Dreaming all the time

Knitting is my natural resting state. It is always the same and ever changing. It challenges my creativity and feeds my soul.

Knitting has always been part of my life. My Mother and maternal Grandmother showed their love with the work of their hands. They are equally skilled knitters, sewers and embroiderers.

Knitting connects me these generations of other women.
Until joining out Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group, knitting was a solitary and often ill-regarded pursuit. Stitch ‘n’ Bitch and my blog brings into contact with other fibre freaks and textile terrors. It provides a community of acceptance- in the knitting blogsphere I’m not that weird.

Unravelled

The blog-friend who made these cats, Kate, has never met me (mainly because she lives in Perth and I am in Canberra), but we know a lot about each other from our blogs. She has a dog she loves and I have two cats, I love books and she loves writing. She wrote and excellent post one day about Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the vampire Slayer. I just happened to have picked up a Buffy comic at the Lifeline Book Fair, and decided, on a whim, to send it to her. She responds by knitting these cats for me. They are knitted versions of my own black cats, Mr Pooter and Mr Padge, whom I blog about regularly. I think I got the better half of the exchange!

Ampersand Duck

My mother taught me to knit and crotchet when I was 8. The knitting didn’t stick, but the crochet did. Growing up in the tropics, woollen items of clothing weren’t often needed, but my mother usually knitted me a beautiful jumper to wear to the Townsville Show every July. Crochet was reserved for lacy tablecloths, dollies and the ever practical ripple rug. My own crochet skills were limited to dressing my Cindy and baby Alive dolls.

Fast forward to 1991 when I moved to Canberra. Mum sent be down here with my own ripple rug, but the loneliness and the need to be creative led me to crochet my own granny square afghan rug. Then I discovered sewing and quilting, a crotchet was once again put on the back burner.

A couple of years ago I took up the knitting needles again, but my frustration at not being able to “get it” was still there even though countless garter stitch scarves rolled off the needles that year. Then I found my crochet hooks and felt right at home again, crocheting scarves and hats and ripple rugs, tackling other designers’ patterns and creating my own designs.
My blog was created originally in 2004 to document my quilting and stitching, and it still does that. Currently my crocheting has taken over the blog- winter 2007 seems to have invigorated me to create extra warmth with my hooks and I am taking great delight in acquainting myself with different yarns and learning how crotchet stitches and different yarns will work together to create something truly amazing.

quilting mick