Creative. Passionate. Joyful. Pensive.
Karen’s warm personality shines through the moment I meet her. She is a little flustered, but sits and waits for the coffee to arrive before we start. She is a person who knows her own mind, likes to set herself challenges and takes on complicated craft projects to fulfil this need.
Sitting in the Hyperdome of the Tuggeronong shopping centre we must look just look like all the other retired people having coffee together. The conversations around us, some of which I can over hear, are about dogs and exercise regimes and adult children away on adventure holidays. As I waited for Karen I took out my crochet with a few of the coffee drinkers looking on and then commenting. Once Karen arrives I put this to one side so we can chat about her work, and it is impressive.
Karen learnt how to knit when she was about 8. Her mother taught her, like so many others having the generation ahead connecting us through passing on skills. The first thing she finished was an aran jumper! Once she knew she could do this knitting was put on one side while teenage and young adult life filled the space. When she had her children in her late 20’s she took up knitting again to make them clothes.
One month before COVID shut down the whole country, Karen retired. Knitting alone was no longer enough. She taught herself how to crochet using YouTube videos. She shows me photos on her phone of the thing she finished. It is the Wallflowers pattern from the Mercerie based in the UK. I have been crocheting for years and would hesitate to take on something that big and three dimensional. I am in awe that Karen made this, not from someone showing her how to do it but from a video. It is also the size that is daunting; smaller items like animals and place mats, cardigans or baby blankets can seem endless when you start out, but a huge, double blanket to fit a queen bed would seem unsurmountable to me. Karen loves a challenge!
Now retired and free from lockdowns, Karens does other crafts too. She loves to do free stitching to make pictures. She tells me about the project she is planning, which went to a whole new level when she asked for permission for a picture. She is aiming to get this work finished within 12 months so it can be entered into the Canberra Show. The crocheted article she made for the Show this year was not placed. She thinks that is because she did not take the care needed as when she started it there was no intention to enter it at the beginning. Karen understands why it was not placed as there where a few mistakes.
Karen tells me about how she spends her time during the day: art works and does the knitting and crochet during the evening. She also spends some time with her mother and her grandchildren. Her mother, also a crafter, who loves to knit for charity: beanies, blankets big and small, and trauma bears. All her work is for others, and people she does not know. Karen talks with admiration in her voice as she describes what her mother makes, understanding the time taken, skill needed and yarn bought, although some of this is donated.
Karen is as selfless as her mother. She describes the best thing she ever made; a shawl. She made it during a time when her world as she knew it was falling apart. She poured her love into the made item and held onto it until she did not need it any longer. The shawl was posted to a woman she had never met before in another country as part of an international gift exchange for those who love Christmas.
So why does Karen knit and crochet with such a passion? Karen tells me it is for sanity. The Facebook Group gives her inspiration, a shared sense of achievement and good advise but she continues to make things because there is a medative quality to working with yarn that is not replicated with anything else. The planning, the rhythm, the stitches, the finished look all contribute to a feeling of achievement that is not the same as running, or reading, or exercise or watching films or fixing cars. The Facebook Group is all full of people who appreciate this and share the highs, the finished articles and understand the effort and time put in. The crafting also gives her trust in people.
Karen told me about how she sells things on FB Marketplace occasionally. She always does this with caution taking sensible steps to ensure no one can take any kind of advantage of her; she makes sure she meets buyers outside her home, when her husband is around. One time she sold something and meeting the buyer outside her house noticed the buyer had a teenager in the passenger seat who was knitting. The mother/buyer talked to Karen about her child’s interest in craft. They chatted about the Facebook group. Karen, surprising herself and without a second thought, invited them in to see her works. Knitting, crocheting and crafting builds trust.
I imagine Karen’s house to be full of beautiful things, she has good taste. She tells me her most treasured possession is a small enamel painting of Mary holding Jesus that she bought in Budapest. This was a first visit to a country that she knew little about. Karen and her husband visited all the touristy places including the antiques stores. The small piece of jewellry spoke to her but she did not buy it due to the cost. She thought she would find another like it for a cheaper price. The rest of the five days were filled with finding out about the history of Hungary and searching for a similar item. Starting at the House of Terror Museum, the crash course in history opened Karen’s eyes to what the people of this country have gone through. The monument of the shoes was harrowing to visit but had to be done. No other piece of jewellry was found that matched the first piece. Karen and her husband returned to the first store to purchase the necklace. Karen explains she usually wears it everyday but it has a small chip and she is trying to find someone to fix it locally before she resumes wearing it.
The way Karen talks about the visit to Hungary and how it made her feel lucky to live in Australia tells me so much about her. She is a thoughtful, considerate person who is curious and happy to take on big things.
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