Thank you, Year 7 at Meriden

I realised today that somewhere in our rather frantic working bee sewing labels on rugs, that a rug from Year 7 at Meriden had become separated from its identifying post-it note. My apologies to the Year 7 girls who took the time to knit the squares and sew the rug together. If anyone reading this blog can identify the rug, please contact me and I'll post a photo of it together with the attribution.

My interest and love of woolly crafts started through a similar activity at school, in Year 7 (or 1st year back then!) at St George. I came to Sydney halfway through the year and found all the girls at my new high school were busy crocheting squares to make rugs for an old people's home - I had no interest in crocheting, but wanted to be like everyone else, so one of my new friends taught me the basic stitches, and so began my lifelong love affair with wool!

I hope that the knitting skills you have developed in this project, stay with you for the rest of your lives. At the risk of sounding like a "Primer for Young Ladies", it is a wonderful skill to have - you need never be bored because there is always something waiting in your "queue" to knit; knitting provides a wonderful outlet for your creative skills ; the wonderful colours and textures of the yarns are constantly changing and can lead to amazing flights of the imagination; you may have the satisfaction of creating genuine gifts of love for your family and friends; as with the rug you made, there are many opportunities to give to the wider community whilst engaging in an activity you enjoy; and one of the best things about knitting is becoming part of the knitting community - worldwide, people share this love and many friendships are forged over knitting needles and cups of coffee.

Knitting groups are everywhere and one of the best resources for engaging with this wonderful world of knitters is found on the internet - Ravelry - a worldwide group of more than 600,000 knitters. You can find groups within Ravelry to satisfy any knitting interest - groups for young knitters, knitters with a particular technical interest eg lace knitters, or "Woolly Thoughts" for knitters interested in the exploration of mathematical concepts through their craft, "Australians Giving a Knit" for charity knitting groups - there are even  groups for those who watch certain TV programs while they knit! :o)  And, if you can't find a group to suit your needs, you can start your own! It is truly amazing and I would recommend that you join Ravelry  if you are interested in knitting.

The other source for those who want to explore all the aspects of knitting, is the NSW Knitters Guild.  There are many suburban and regional groups. For younger members, the Inner City Group meets at Customs House at Circular Quay and is a fun, buzzy group.

Thanks again, Year 7 - long may you knit!