I first met Elizabeth way back in 2001 when she attended one of my workshops and then more recently at the Bathurst Wool Muster when she dropped by my booth to say hello! She told me that the vest she had started way back in 2001 was awarded 2nd Prize in the Oberon 2005 Show. (You can barely see it in the picture but if it hadn't been for the added band on the lower edge of the vest, it would have been awarded 1st Prize!) Of course I asked her to please send me some pics and I have to agree with the judges - her vest is definitely a winner! I am very proud to include Elizabeth's work in this Gallery.

I stumbled across Kelly's website completely by accident a while ago and, intrigued by the name www.kiwi-crafts.com I took a closer look initially believing it to be a Kiwi website since it was promoting New Zealand and Australian crafts. I was totally surprised to see that it was actually an American site, owned by Americans!

I was also very pleasantly surprised to find my book listed under Knitting and Crochet and even more pleasantly surprised to find that Kelly had written a little testimonial about it..

"This is a great new knitting and crochet book. The first "use up your stash book" I've found that worked for me".

Further browsing took me to the Gallery/Links page and there I found this sweet little bag that my book had inspired Kelly to make! With her permission I am honoured to include both the bag and her testimonial in my Gallery. Thanks Kelly!

When I asked her about her link to Australia and/or New Zealand she sent me this little explanation:

"When my father had a bad day at work he'd come home and say, "Movin' to Australia".  It sounded good to me and still does.  My husband, son, and I visited Oz and NZ once and thought a business might give us a good excuse to return".

I certainly hope Kelly and her family do return Down Under one day as I'd love to meet them!

Sue's beautiful beret was inspired by the Chain Loop beret in my book, Freeform Knitting and Crochet which she modified as described below......

....." the crochet beret was adorned by chain loops and dc as I wasn't happy with the way the stitch in the instructions was sitting on the hat: so I'm improvising already!"

Great going, Sue....that's exactly what I intended the book should encourage!

 

This time Sue was inspired by Lynne's Rolled'n Folded hat, also from the Freeform book.

Fabulous colours! And it looks so warm!

I get the feeling that Sue is fond of blue!

While not one of my students per se, I am nonetheless, absolutely thrilled to show off this beautiful garment because not only was it made by my aunt who is almost 90 years young, it was also her very first attempt at freeform knitting! In fact, she hadn't knitted anything at all in a very long time!

Before her eyesight started letting her down, Leila was an accomplished oil painter and it is from her I'm proud to say, that I inherited my 'creative genes'. She potters about with water colours these days and still sends out hand painted cards every Christmas.

"Jacket for Bronwyn" was inspired by a picture of a jacket in my book; one of my "Grow As You go" garments which means you don't knit a swatch, you simply knit until it fits! You do use a template as you work, but that's about as technical as you get. There were therefore no pattern instructions in the book, just general information on how to create a garment using freeform knitting and fitting it to the template as you work. The garter stitch body and sleeves were added using the same format.

Because Leila has no local shops selling these fancy yarns, and no way of travelling any distance to find some, I sent her some yarn and some needles and the result is as you can see, fantastic! I am so proud of her as would her sister (my mum) be, if she were still with us.

Leila's next project is a jacket for herself made in shades of blue! And with her permission I will certainly share that with you as well.