so who is this crazy lady...?

My name is Norelle and I was a ..gulp.. I still am a K N I T O H O L I C .
*the crowd all clap*


This is the first time I have spoken in front of a group about my addiction to knitting.
Right..now that I have your attention and you have all drunken the tea and scoffed the muffins.. I guess my job is to tell you when I noticed I had a problem with long strands of wool and getting it tangled around long sticky things!
I remember it like it was yesterday...*cue the violins to play for 10 secs as we take a moment to think back*

My first pattern book and set of knitting needles..age 17. Self taught knitter from the first stitch. First project, a pair of sick green and white leggings for my baby due 5 months later.HIDEOUS now..but $1.99 worth of wool was LOVELY then..one can not be picky when being cheap !!
Memories. hmm..let me think..AHH yes....misunderstanding the pattern instructions , knitting 20 lots of stripe repeat INSTEAD of only 20 rows straight knitting..and wondering why the leg was long enough for me!! Funny how I can see the humour in it now...at the time I said the pattern was lame and I was never going to knit again,even if I was paid!! haha ..thats a joke and a half or I wouldn't be talking to you all today!!

Fast forward 3 years and I would be knitting for a wool shop and the international market.All of which I was paid for.. It was all soo boringly predictable...
lacy layettes for mums to be, in pale lemon and baby blue, mohair jumpers reminesent of the 1980s with bat wing arms that made people look like airoplanes..It is all hazy now..i feel my eyes glazing over with the pain of it all.
I spent far too many years knitting up other peoples designs . I found them all really drab and' very very NANA'!
I am soo glad I listened to a voice in my head shouting '' STOP KNITTING THOSE HIDEOUS CREATIONS WOMAN AND DO YOUR OWN FUNKY THINGS..THE WORLD NEEDS YOUR DESIGNS TO ROCK THEIR SOCKS OFF!""
This is where my addiction started..my addiction to be true to myself and not to gag and cringe doing designs I loathed.I started to create my own things in my spare time, in the car, watching films, while cooking, reading kids bedtime stories, in the bath...the addiction just started to take over from being spare time to full time ! So.. after a few years going backwards and forwards with shop designs and having small bursts of my own designs.. I decided to listen to that voice and get my colouring pencils and graph paper out for good. I was ready to make my mark on the knitwear industry. Time for some designs that are non traditional.Time for a more progressive feel for the more adventurous parents like me. I never wanted bunny rabbits and ballerinas in pink on my kids clothes and judging by all the punk,goth,rock and alternative thinkers out there, I doubt you do either..so dont expect those coming from my needles anytime soon!


You know, I wasn't always a knitwear designer specialising in my own handknitted designs for children. I didnt always have the addiction to unravel second hand garments to reknit .I didn't always have the addiction to draw out designs to knit up on the back of napkins,...however I ALWAYS had an addiction to the belief my designs need to be on offer..people need black baby clothes with skull and cross bones with lace edging!..... I will love to see people drool over my designs, rather than look apprehensive ..(you know the type... '' wow,not sure I could put MY baby in that..I wish I wasn't so old fashioned ....but its cute for someone that is ummm... progressive '')...need I say anymore ? Those comments tell me Im onto something cool!
so yes...
I'm proud to say i'm a knitaholic!

Watch this space as my latest 'design fixes' come to life...