Bright Wings

Martinborough chic and vintage

A small selection of Hope & Glory beautiful handcrafted items.

A trip to Greytown for lunch in pouring rain saw us change direction as we could see the sky over Martinborough bathed in sunshine.

This proved to be an inspired decision as the weather in Martinborough was bright and sunny, if a bit breezy.

Craft Country Fair

Craft Country, are holding a a contemporary Craft Fair at the Greytown Town Hall, Main Street, on Saturday, 11 December, 10 am - 4 pm.

More information about the fair and participants is available here.

Operation Cover Up

Operation Cover Up is an initiative to provide warm woollen blankets and clothing for poor and orphaned children in Eastern Europe, including Moldava, Romania, and the Ukraine.

The "peggy square" pattern is very simple. Using No.8 (4mm) needles and double knitting wool, cast on 40 stitches, and knit 80 rows.  Eight squares joined end-to-end make a strip, or you can knit an entire strip (80 rows x 8).  Note that wool must be used, rather than a synthetic yarn, as synthetic yarns are simply not warm enough.

The Masterton District Library (06 370 6261) is a collection point for both completed squares, and for receiving donations of double knitting wool.

A great opportunity for Wairarapa knitters to get busy.

A Merry Mix of Fibre

A Merry Mix of Fibre is the annual exhibition of Manawatu Spinners and Weavers, hosted by Taylor Jensen Fine Arts, 39 George Street, Palmerston North.

It features tapestry and fine hand-crafted work by members and is on until 22 July.

Examples of the work are on the Taylor Jensen Fine Arts website.

Maternity upgrade

Discussions on the $103 million upgrade to maternity services on Checkpoint - and Homepaddock - included the suggestion that better use is made of the old concept of "lying-in homes,"  where mothers with new babies spent a couple of weeks getting breastfeeding established, gaining confidence in managing the baby and - most importantly - having a bit of a rest.

Greater contact with the mother - both during pregnancy and after delivery might also give lead carers and GPs an opportunity to spot any family dysfunction that might need to be addressed, particularly with unplanned teenage pregnancies where the young parent(s) are unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with a young baby.  It might even prevent some cases of abuse of young children.

The picture is of a 1950s bed jacket, typically knitted for young mothers to wear while they were in the maternity home.

Something old

A lovely selection of old knitting patterns and books arrived this morning, including a 1978 Mon Tricot winter edition. These excellent designs haven't dated one bit; a testimony to superb French design. I can't wait to try some of these projects.

The size range in the Mon Tricot patterns is very telling, with most being only for sizes 8 to 12.  We have grown an awful lot bigger in the 30 years since these patterns were produced. 

Vibrant recycled colours

I've had fun unpicking a huge, multi-coloured rug that I got for almost nothing in an op shop. The original knitter had used two different strands of 4 ply (fingering) in really imaginative ways and I'm exploring ideas for reusing this wool.

Recycling wool

A Ravelry forum featured a discussion among young mothers about recycling knitted garments.  They buy these for next to nothing from op shops, unpick them and knit them into children's clothes or socks.  Sometimes they dye the wool to get a more pleasing colour.

Not so many years ago knitware which children had grown out of, or was out of fashion, was routinely unpicked, carefully washed to get the kinks out, and then reknitted into other garments. It's great to see these skills returning.