ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

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.

Here in the Netherlands I do not have my Toastmaster folder so some of the details are hazy – except for that pertaining to yarn and fibres. So I shall stick to the yarn (story).

Sometime in the very late 1990″s I had an opportunity to be a member of a local toastmasters club and what does a fibre crazy individual speak to a group of toastmasters about? I decided to yarn about yarn of course. This was a prepared speech and if I remember it was to be 30 minutes long. Now it might simply I remember it being very long and it may not have been.

I sorted through my stash and found yarns of different plys, different content – 100% wool, faux fur, other crazy fibres, mohair, alpaca, cotton, ribbon and everything else I could find. The yarns were all purples or shades of purple.

I brought my large bag of yarns to the front of the group. They were all sitting in a horseshoe arrangement of desks and chairs – so everyone could see me and I hoped they would also listen. They could also see each other and their reactions to my yarns and my yarn.

I was absolutely terrified to speak in front of a group of people where no one had previously admitted to any type of yarn interest (no knitters, no textile artists, no crocheters, no embroiderers, no weavers – no one passionate about yarn or fibres). These were men and women from all walks of life including managers, business people, software developers etc.

So there I was alone at the front and I had to excite these people about fibres. I passed the yarns around as I spoke about each one and these non fibre enthusiasts were asked to participate by touching, smelling, stroking, resting it on their cheeks, comparing the shades and so on. Some looked a little stunned, but they are all toastmasters and they are open to anything. They did touch, stroke, feel it against their skin, smell the yarns and laughed a lot.

I guess now that speaking to a group like this will never be scary again as the yarn story went quite well. They all learned a lot about me, and I learned just how easy it is if you are passionate to take people along with you.

I do not remember the score or mark I received. I do remember some of the faces and their reactions and then their enthusiasm.