ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

Kiwi Cape Pattern is available

The Kiwi Cape is a sexy luxurious cape; easy to knit, and lovely to wear.

is available now and you do not have to be a member of Ravelry to purchase this pattern for US$4.00

Bloke's Neck Warmer

and you do not have to have a PayPal account either. You can pay using a credit card instead.

Now I have called this a “Bloke’s Neck Warmer” but it is a unisex piece. It just happened that my Bloke or my Best Beloved liked the neck warmer and snaffled it while we lived in the Netherlands and he loved it so much he brought it back to New Zealand with him, just cause it might be a bit cold over the winter here in our rural Miranda. Nothing like the Netherlands of course but still a wee bit cold.

I did tell you, didn’t I?

that I met the worlds fastest knitter – Miriam Tegels at a Metro Station.

I was booked to attend my first ever knit design workshop as part of the Handwerkbeurs (Craft Show), being held in Rotterdam. The teacher – Nicky Epstein.

I had to get myself to Rotterdam.

That was simple enough. You know, walk to train and catch the correct train, Walk to Metro and catch the correct Metro – that was not so easy working out where to go, finding the correct metro platform, watching and listening so I would get off the Metro at the correct station. But I did it.

The last stage was walk to the bus, catch the bus, get off the bus, then find the way to the auditorium and it all started very very badly. Lots and lots of people, a 3 level metro station with access on 2 levels to 2 separate bus stations, and rising panic. I may never ever be seen again.

All of sudden it became very easy as I met two knitters who were heading to the same workshop with Nicky, and they were happy for me to tag along all the way to the auditorium. Whew!

My good fortune:

How did I know they were knitters? Well, one was carrying a large suitcase with a ravelry badge on it. Now everyone knows the ravelry badge, don’t they? Thank goodness I did or I may still be wandering that station, a thinner version of my old self.

Brilliant.

My Good Fortune continued:

What did I find out? One of the knitters who had saved my skin and got me to the auditorium on time was none other than Miriam the World fastest knitter

My continuing Good Fortune:

Nicky Epstein had attended an exhibition in New Zealand in 2007. My Colour Play exhibition was included in the Vogue Knitters tour that she was hosting. Nicky was generous and introduced me to the participants of the workshop here in Rotterdam, and Miriam was delighted to know that I was also a knitter/designer.

and my good fortune

is that I shall be teaching at “FreeForm Intarsia” workshop at Miriams “Knitting in Nature” knit retreat in July this year.

So thank goodness for Ravelry badges, generous spirits and good fortune.

I have been talking, or is that writing, a bit lately about direction on a personal level with various friends, family and colleagues. But I still feel a touch confused.

But I shouldn’t be!

I am communicating like crazy.

Or is that crazily communicating.

Or should it be that I am crazy to communicate

Or what else could it mean?

I am on Facebook and Twitter, and have two etsy shops Unique Boutique Knits where you will find my patterns and some odd knits and bits. Then I have an etsy shop called ConnieLene where you will only find knits and that might be only for a wee while. This one is for the chop as it were.

Then I am on Youtube and as I am sure you have worked out already I am Connieleneknits The videos are of my (our graffiti) knitting exploits as well as bird life and bike travels etc in the Netherlands.

Crazy as it all seems I am also on the Big Idea but there I am ConnieLene Johnston and then there are other places in the world like LinkedIn, Digg as Connieleneknits, Ravelry as ConnieLene, GrownUpsNZ, my mobile for SMS, email, etc – there are too many places that I cannot list for time becomes an issue here.

All these internet connections are so that I can communicate with absolutely anyone who could be interested in me personally, and/or in my work, or in my travels with Best Beloved.

Life goes in full Circles!

Yes it does.

The very first connection I had with the world was with my mother and then with my family and communciation was snail mail, then the telephone other than real live real functional talking. You know that stuff – face to face. Fantastic stuff.

Life, work, marriage, children, illness, death, birth ……..

And we have forgotten to talk.

Oh we do communicate – but talk, what’s that!

Now we communicate via the ether.

I remember ether – it is what I used as a young nurse in an old coackroach ridden hospital ward in Auckland – to stun huge coackroaches into submission to be scooped up and washed down the sluice. I could still hear the scuttling of those other 10 million coackroaches but I did my bit with the ether.

Now I do so much with the ether – that I think everything has come full circle again. I feel like there are another 10 million connections that I am not making in this modern ether.

It is a little scary so.

Right now I just want family and friends and colleagues and fantastic face to face talking for a bit.

Maybe I have been alone here in the Netherlands too long. Maybe it is because I have been recently to New Zealand where we did lots of talking. Maybe it is because my sister has terminal cancer. Maybe it is because my sister is to be married this weekend, maybe it is just that I am not there.

I know, I am not alone – Best Beloved is here. He leaves for his work at around 7.30 in the mornings. I am not sure of the time – he brings me a wonderful coffee up two flights of stairs and then goes to work. He comes home again around 5.30 or 6 generally. I might go to the shops and the rest of the time I am alone.

Gosh I think I am having words with me.

Get up – get out there, only another 12 months and then who knows what we might get up to then – and I have at least enough yarn for another 50 sweaters, not that I will knit sweaters, and I am going to the Knitting and Stitch show in London. Then I will talk, I hope I will be talking a lot.

I am so looking forward to talking.

I will still communicate via the ether, but I am not going to try to make another 10 million ether connections.

I hope that after looking through the site you will choose to be a fan of my Facebook Page or as it is now on facebook I hope you will choose to like ConnieLeneKnits

You can find me in many places on the net –

My Etsy Shop Unique Boutique Knits for patterns and garments

Crazy but this is my other Etsy Shop Connielene Capes and my unique and unrepeatable knits Capes because I adore cloaks and capes, the others because I cannot tell you exactly how I created them other than the pattern for the style but not the intarsia on them.

And because I managed to create and install a Ball Warmer and really enjoyed the experience and the story World Urban Art – a site still in development – Installation art in the urban environment including Knit Art Graffiti or Yarn bombing.

Our travels in Europe – two oldies from New Zealand exploring the Netherlands, Denmark and Europe as time, money and energy allows.

You can find me on Ravelry here and believe it or not I am also on Twitter here as Connieleneknits

I am a Freelance designer, knitter, lover of colour; lots of colour, Intarsia lover, pattern writer, fashion knit trend follower, Colour and yarn trend follower.

They tell me that I am also artist, graffiti knit artist. I know I am a storyteller, writer, blogger, mother, wife, sister, grandmother, teacher, friend, photographer, and speaker.

My loves are colour, texture, shape, flow, drape, drama, magic, passion and yarn and I hope you enjoy the results.

When I can I do participate in fibre exhibitions, and I have curated two exhibitions with a wonderful artist friend. In 2009 I had a felted jacket in WoolOn at the Alexandra Blossom Festival, and a dress with intarsia of course in the Alpaca Festival in New Zealand.

My Mission is to excite and challenge all knitters, designers and wearers of hand created pieces – to experience more colour in their own knitted pieces and to enjoy the freedom and the magic of wearing such a unique piece because it is created with many colours, passion and with magical yarns

My Major Project with delivery in 2011 is My Intarsia Knitting – Book as yet with no name.

I hope you will be a fan of my Facebook Page or as it is now I hope you will choose to like ConnieLeneKnits on Facebook.