Category: latest from Nanna

Merged websites

Because I’m concentrating on fibre art and jewellery-making, my knitting has taken a backseat lately, and I’ve concluded it no longer needs a dedicated website. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to merge WordPress sites, so many of the pages from my little brother big brother website are now here on my showcase. It’s given me the chance to refresh some of the pages, and – although it’s a work in progress – keep the knitting pages up-to-date.

Check out my two main ranges, with themed accessories and links to my online shops:

BronzArt – women’s accessories

little brother big brother – quirky knits for colourful kids

Charcoal and Mint (updated)

Nanna says she’s finally finished Big Brother’s jersey. She started it last year! Nanna says it was finished because it was a vest but Big Brother insisted he wanted it to have sleeves – and Big Brother is very good at insisting. So it had to wait until all her other stuff was done.

Now she’s gonna knit a jumper for Little Brother and Nanna says she’ll let him choose the colours. His favourites right now are blue, orange and red. He’s gonna look like a wonky traffic light!

Nanna says Little Brother is just the sort of Colourful Kid she likes to do her Quirky Knitting for. But she loves the colours Big Brother chose, too.

She’s also “stash busting” which Nanna says means using up all her old wonky wool. The orangey green thing might be a bag.

We thought she said ghostly

Nanna says she’s knitting a new cardigan to sell on her website, because she’s made some sales lately and needs to restock her shop.

She showed us the jersey when we talked on Skype. It’s got orange and blue stripes but she says it’s not as ghastly as it sounds. We thought she said ghostly – Woo, woo!

Now we live in Queensland, Nanna says we’ll be too warm to need her to knit things for us. But Big Brother said it gets cold sometimes, and he’d like a jersey in cool colours.

Nanna said, “Is red cool?” Silly old Nanna!

Big Brother told her that cool colours are blue and green and purple, and red is a hot colour. Little Brother would probably like a red or orange jersey but Nanna says it will take a while because she’s quite busy just now. She said maybe by next winter…

Shawls and scarves and news for you!

Nanna says it’s been a while since she posted anything on this website. She says she’s been very busy with other things – like making jewellery (you can buy it, too) and tapestry and stitched canvas work – and helping us move to a city in Australia.

Earlier in the year, Nanna made a new scrumble shawl as well as several scarves. She says it’s a good time to let you know about them, because it’s winter in New Zealand where she lives. (Last year we lived in South Korea where it was sometimes very hot and sometimes freezing cold. Now we’re in a part of Australia where the Nanna says the temperature in winter is a lot like the New Zealand Summer. Nanna says she’s going to spend a lot of time with us in the middle of the year!)

So here are photos of the newest knitting – and a couple of older things, just to remind you they’re still in Nanna’s bronzart shop on the Felt website for you to buy:

vintage mummy

Here’s a jumper Nanna knitted for our Mummy. She wore it to school! Nanna says it’s a poem to the ’80s. We don’t know what that means.

After a while, Mummy wouldn’t wear the things Nanna knitted for her. All she wanted was bubble gum jeans and an acrylic navy blue sweatshirt.

Now she loves Nanna’s crazy knitting and dresses us in all Nanna’s “chaotic creations”.

Nanna says, “Sorry about the exposure. I’ll try and take some better photos soon.”

Tricky rascal raspberries

Nanna says some colours are really tricky to photograph – especially if they’re blue hues.

Boo hoos!?!

Haha, Nanna says it’s enough to make you wanna cry, the way the camera turns pink things red or orange but not bright dark pink like the real wool she was knitting with.

She says the wool of the scarf she’s made for “Operation Brighten” (we told you about that last time) is a bright raspberry pink.

Last year when we were staying at Nanna’s house, before we moved to South Korea, there was a raspberry bush in the orchard; that’s what they call down the back where all the fruit trees are. Late one night, Granddad heard a noise at the back door. When he went to see what it was, there was Big  Brother coming inside again… with red on his mouth.

”Nanna was asleep,” said Big Brother, “so I went in the garden and ate some raspberries!”

Nanna and Granddad thought it was very funny. But after that, the back door was locked very tight. Continue reading “Tricky rascal raspberries” →

Snuggle hugs & “Operation Brighten”

Since Nanna’s last post, she and Granddad have been to visit us in South Korea. We miss each other and it was lovely to have real snuggly hugs instead of talking on the Skype or WhatsApp. They stayed for two weeks, but are home in New Zealand now. Here’s Little Brother wearing a scarf Nanna knitted. (Nanna says he’s a cheeky monkey!)

Nanna says she’s been knitting something that combines two fun ideas: a boomerang shawl covered in freeform knitting and scrumbles! It’s for “Operation Brighten“, a challenge for the Creative Fibre Wellington area members, to create colourful winter clothing for women at Women’s Refuge.

It can be a hat, scarf, gloves, rug, cushion, throw or something else. Nanna’s made a pink scrumbly scarf, and now she’s knitting a multi-coloured stripey one.

 

 

 

 

 

Boomerang!

Nanna says after all the time it took making scrumbles, it’s time for something easier, that she can get finished quickly.

So she’s knitting scarves. Boomerang scarves, coz of the shape. She says it’s a really easy pattern once you get your head around it. It’s taken her a couple of goes, though, which is why the scarves are different shapes!

We thought you’d put a scarf around your head or neck, not get your head around it. Sometimes the things Nanna says are weird.

Another Gorgeous Scrumble Shawl

Nanna says she’s really happy with her snuggly scrumble shawl. We knew it would be blue! (And purple. And a bit of bright green.)

When she wore her shawl to church, Nanna says, lots of people admired it! That made her happy! She says she’ll take orders, if anyone wants her to knit one for them.

It’s not to everyone’s tastes, says Nanna, but if you like big and bold and totally unique, scrumbles are great! And if you get tired of it, you can make it into a carry bag and even felt it.

Nanna says some things on Facebook

Nanna says she usually says things here and posts them to our Little Brother Big Brother Facebook page. But this one’s the other way round; it’s from her FB to here. So you might see it twice.

https://www.facebook.com/littlebrotherbigbrother99/

We haven’t seen it, coz too much screen time makes us silly, but our Mum sometimes checks out online stuff.

From Nanna:

I have several things in the Kapiti Arts and Crafts Society’s Wonders with Wool Exhibition of work by the Spinners, Weavers & Knitters and the Felters groups. This year’s theme is “From Farm to Fashion”.

When I was on Gallery duty on Thursday afternoon, someone came in looking for clothing to fit her very petite frame… She spotted my “child’s” jacket, tried it on and loved it! It was a great feeling to sell something I’d crafted to someone who appreciated it so much.

Here’s the jacket on display – and modelled by Peg, its new owner.

We’re standing by another of my creations, a free form / scrumble knitting beaded shawl in blues and oranges. (See earlier  blogs Scrumble shawls and Nanna sold a jersey…)

https://www.facebook.com/littlebrotherbigbrother99/

Colours of the ocean for a friend

Nanna says she couldn’t think what to get her oldest friend for her birthday. Then she said she’s not the oldest friend she’s got, but they’ve been friends for over 45 years, and we think that sounds very old.

In the end, Nanna says she decided something “handmade with love” would be the best present, and because her friend spends a lot of time fishing and sailing, she’s knitted it in colours of the ocean.

On one side, the scarf ends in a V or triangle shape, and on the other side there are six steps, one for each decade.

We think it will be a great present, don’t you?