New Zealand Knitter

Funny the things that happen in my life. So I posted yesterday about not having pictures of the things I knitted. Well, today, I went looking for something else and came up with a box of pictures that I took out of an album about a year ago.

I had been thinking about a specific even that I wanted a picture for and when I picked up a pile of pictures, there, in front, first picture I could see in the stack in my hand, was that picture.

Well, after that, I started showing my children some of the pictures. It was my album before getting married. It had my year of living in New Zealand in it. Guess what I pulled out every few pictures..... Yes, pictures of me wearing many of the things I knit.

I hadn't remembered all the things I had knit. I got rid of many over the years. I have three of the sweaters left. I have the Ski sweater I am wearing above. It is actually Swedish Darning on top of the sweater sort of like darning in a different color. I loved the kiwi bird. My girls now wear that sweater as an "Ugly Sweater" to school on Ugly Sweater day.

I also still own this sweater shown in the black and white. One of my host mothers owned some yarn she wasn't going to use so I ended up getting the yarn for free. Real wool yarn isn't cheap and wasn't back then. I still think it is a cute sweater and the girls say it isn't as "ugly" as the other with the Kiwi Bird on it.

This one is one I knit together with one of my host mothers. Yes, they all knit there and spin wool, and shear sheep. lol Ok, so they don't all do it all but most of the women I stayed with did knit and were VERY good. We knit this for my father and I over shot his size and it was very large but since Bulky sweaters were in style, I wore it for a few years. I think I still have that sweater somewhere.

The other sweaters and some I don't have pictures of have gone over the years. There is one I wish I kept. It was made from all little scraps and I left pieces of string hanging out all over the sweater. It was like "Joseph's coat of many colors" but it was my sweater of many colors.

The fingerless gloves at the top were my specialty when I returned home. Everyone wanted a pair. I can't tell you how many pair I knitted but it was before they were available here and I made a pair for most of my family members. I think the patriotic pair at the top were for my brother in the military but I ended up finding them when we cleaned out my mom's house or something.

This blue sweater was out of cotton bobbly yarn that was also free if I remember right. I liked the pattern because it was simple. I had the most pictures of me wearing this sweater. I also learned to sew around this time and made a few dresses similar to the one in that picture.

Princess number three said I was a "Domestic housewife" as a teen when she saw all the pictures I pulled out of the box saying, "I made that dress." "I knit that sweaters." over and over. It was fun to show them those pictures. They kept telling me I looked like Princess number 1.

Here is a picture of me knitting some fingerless gloves on our trip to Mexico my senior year summer. If I was sitting, I was knitting. In New Zealand I remember getting joked that I was the "Knitting American" at school. I always had it with me and when I had a minute, I would pull it out.

This last picture is of my first host family in New Zealand and my "sister" and "Mum" with their dog Peaches. My sister and I ended up with the same sweater in different colors. Mine was grey and I think hers was lavender. I spoke to a man tonight who is taking his kids and going to live in New Zealand for a few months at least. I would LOVE to do that.

What a blessing that time in my life was. The people of New Zealand are such a kind and giving people. I remember running into an American male tourist on a boat once and he told me how people he just met offered to let him stay at their home. I have to say, they are amazing that way. They all have spare bedrooms and are willing to share.

I love my New Zealand family and pray I get back to see them soon!