My knitting adventures.

The first thing I ever knitted was a cowl scarf, basically a tube, which I still like to wear every winter. My mother-in-law taught me the basics: how to cast on, purl and stitch. With the help of a couple of books and youtube videos, I took it from there.

I really enjoy it. I love how transportable and quiet it is compared to a sewing machine. I love being able to do it while watching TV. But mostly, I love that I can transform a piece of string, a one-dimensional object, into a two-dimensional surface, and eventually into a three-dimensional form. I find that a little bit magical.

I am a tiny little bit past being a complete beginner. I can start to follow patterns and I have a few stitches up my sleeves. I can't really undo mistakes though so when they happen, I just hope that if I keep knitting, it will just sort of blend in.

My biggest problem is deciding what to knit next. Here are some past projects which all have their very own story.

Hugo's booties were too small before I even finished them. He only wore them long enough to take this photo.

The Cup-Of-Tea Blanket: I started making this blanket when I was pregnant but only finished it once Hugo was already born. One day, I went to a friend's place for a cup of tea and brought my blanket along to make progress. We were chatting away and several rows of knitting later, I realised that my stitches were misaligned. As a result, the blanket has a big mistake running all through it.

This bunny is the first toy I knitted and it was a present for the birth of Archie, our friends Mick & Jess' baby boy. They have been working tirelessly on their garden, inspired by the principles of permaculture. I thought a bunny would fit in well amongst the carrots and cabbages. 

A punk cockatoo for the birth of my friend Paula's baby boy Otis. Throughout her pregnancy, Paula had strange encounters with birds. Some were joyful and some were sad and in any case, they were a recurrent theme so I knew I had to knit a bird.

This zebra was for my friend Lian who is expecting a baby in June. We sometimes tease Lian because it seems that the only "colours" she wears are black and white. She wear grey to mix it up a bit and is a fellow stripe afficionado. I thought this zebra would blend in perfectly with Kris and Lian's growing monochromatic family.

I have an obsession with giant knitting so I was pretty happy when I received a massive skein of merino wool for Christmas as a present from Chris. Armed with super fat needles, I knitted little bits of this blanket over the course of our stay in Nice. The memory of making it in the freshly renovated apartment in Nice will always be embodied into it.

Ah Le Corbusier! This one certainly made me laugh. I met my friend Rosa while studying Architecture in Paris. We became friends quickly but we especially bonded over our shared love of a photo of Le Corbusier leaning against the door frame of his little cabin wearing nothing except some ill-fitting black underwear and his famous round glasses. When I heard that Rosa was pregnant, it was obvious that I had to knit this. 

My last project so far completed a couple of weeks ago is NOT a strange mitten but in fact a little jumper/sweater for a tiny penguin. The Penguin Foundation uses these jumpers to stop penguins from trying to clean their feathers with their beaks after oil spills as the oil can never be completely removed and it is toxic for them to inhale or swallow it. 

To be continued...