Outlander was finally released as a TV series in 2014/2015. I had always been a fan of the books so was was really excited to see the first book finally made into a TV series. What does this have to do with knitting? Well 2015 was a rather traumatic year for me with some major events happening that took me back to knitting when I saw some of the knitted garments in Outlander.
I started knitting about age 9 and was the eldest of 4 children and my mother was a widow with limited means. I started knitting some of my own garments which helped my mother and I enjoyed it. I wish I had my first knitted garment or even a photo of it but sadly I don't. I made a short sleeved tee as it is called today but back then it was the top of a twin set. Mum had made me a cardigan and there was yarn left over so I was allowed to choose another colour to go with it. I chose bright pink to go with the fawn colour of the cardigan and made my top with the pink at the top and the fawn in the bottom half.
A school photo of around the time I learnt to knit. A lot of our clothes were made in neutral colours so choosing the bright pink was a big step back then.
By the time I started work, I was making all my own clothes. I knitted and sewed and had an interest in various hand crafts. Over the years I have tried most. I bought a knitting machine at one stage and made a lot of knitted garments for friends and family on that. I don't have any photos of that either.
When I first started work, a lot of us would knit at lunchtime. I worked in the Laboratory at Auckland Hospital and the big Mascoes woolshop on Karangahape Road was an achievable walk in our lunch break. I spent many a lunch hour there choosing patterns and yarn to knit many garments.
I made my husband a lot of jumpers and even the famous Starsky Jacket which he still has. I made him a lot before we were married so the sweater curse did not apply to us.
We were so young and stylish then.
We married and bought a house and planned to have a family and I knitted and gardened and worked. DH ended up with a serious back injury and life threw a few curve balls that had me working long hours to keep the house we had bought at a time of high interest rates. I still managed to knit and made gifts for others.
I made a cotton top for my grandmother for Christmas and this is me knitting flat out to get it finished for Christmas Day. Nana wore this top a lot. My cousin was accountant for Thorobred and I bought lots of wool and cotton at staff rates. I still have some in my stash today.
I was 30 years old when we finally felt it was time to start our family and it was apparent fairly quickly that something was wrong. It turned out that the hot flushes I had over summer were in fact early onset menopause and my fertile days were over.
My knitting to this point had included baby wear and often booties for any friends or family having babies. I could no longer knit baby items and was at a stage where I didn't want any more jumpers or cardigans. I had also changed jobs and was working in the Racing Laboratory where I developed a repetitive injury that affected my shoulder and hence knitting. We sold our house and bought 10 acres of bush in Waitakere town overlooking the Bethells Valley where we built a small house and my hobbies changed to dog agility in 1997 and in 2005 I took up patchwork and quilting.
So getting back to knitting in 2015 was a 20 year break and things had changed. I started off knitting an Outlander cowl, shawl and mitts.
My Outlander cowl in super chunky yarn
I branched out and started making shawls in 4ply. I went online to buy appropriate yarn after discovering Ravelry and the world of online patterns. Over the years the wool shops had all disappeared and there seemed to be only Spotlight that stocked yarn. I was introduced to circular needles and bought my first set of interchangeable needles.
I had ordered a couple of lots of yarn online and somehow thought that the store was located on the other side of Auckland. It was with great delight that I found out that KnitnStitch was down the road from me in Taupaki. I met Deborah and she introduced me to Ravelry and all the different types of needles available. She let me try out some of the needles as she always had something on needles in the store at her home.
My first interchangeable needle set was Knitpro and I loved them. I could knit without shoulder pain and having the different length cables and needles tips was magic. . Deborah sadly sold KnitnStitch to Beth and the store moved to Beth's home in Mt Albert. I visited there a couple of times but reverted to buying online.
While our house in Waitakere was on the market, I decided to knit a pair of socks. I bought some Opal sock yarn and with the Ashford Easy Peasy Sock pattern and a set of 2.50mm dpns knitteds socks while we left the house for the open homes. It took a year and 2 different agents before we sold and by that stage I had made a few pairs of socks.
We moved to Kimbolton in the Manawatu in 2018 and I was excited as I had my own dedicated Craft room. Initially set up was for my quilting but in 2019 I broke my leg and knitting was so much easier to do with my leg up than quilting. I started watching knitting blogs on Youtube and my knitting evolved. I went from being a monogamous knitter to having multiple projects on the go. I have done multiple test knits for a few knitters and discovered indie dyed yarn. I met Margaret from Squishy McDo and have hosted some knitalongs for her.
Earlier this year I decided to start my own little business doing Technical Editing for knitting designers. I have had a couple of clients and I have also done some custom knit shawls. I love making shawls and have far too many.
Some of my hand knitted socks
An untidy pile of shawls
I could write a lot more but think this will do for now. FB took over from blogging but today I thought I would like to start a knitting blog and record some of my work through this means. I used to blog regularly for my quilting and my animals.
Happy knitting from me (Claire) at Collie and Thread
Instagram: CollieandThread
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