Australian_Homespun_2014-11

PIN INTEREST

Did you know?

There’s a centuries-old custom at

Oxford University’s the Queen’s

College that is as quaint as the

college is beautiful. Called the

Needle & Thread Gaudy, this

annual ceremony sees college

members handed needle and silk

thread. QC’s founder, Robert de

Eglesfi eld, introduced the idea to

promote thrift by way of mending

academic hoods. And it all came

about as a play on his name

• aiguille and fi l
  are needle and

thread in French, and they sound

close enough to Eglesfi

eld to

warrant the traditional, so they

thought! Isn’t it charming?

His name is Scruff, which

is cute in itself, but the

concept is even better

• it’s a starter’s knitting
  kit, for children or
  rank-amateur adults. The
  learn-to-knit package has
  everything you’ll need
  (except for the sewing
  needle), including yarn and
  bamboo knitting needles,
  all in a presentation box.
  Scruff, finished, measures
  18 x 15cm. Find out more
  by visiting Gift Horse Kits
  at http://www.gifthorsekits.co.uk,
  where you can also buy
  other knit kits – from owls,
  pigs and bunnies through
  to hearts and flowers.

BEGINNER’S

SCRUFFINESS

Submarine photographs by Manifeasto Photography

What would you do to celebrate these

disparate occasions?

• Centenary of Australian Submarines
  (1914-2014)


• International Yarn Bombing Day (June 7)


• The local Holbrook, NSW, Sheep & Wool
  Fair (June 11-13)


• 50 years since the Beatles landed
  in Australia.
  Add to that:


• You’re a NSW country town suff ering
  tourist deprivation after a highway bypass


• so you’re looking for a gimmick to
  attract visitors into your CBD.

Well, first, you’d look at what you already had:

• A submarine!
  And then do something drastic with it:


• Craft bomb all in yellow – to make your
  own little Aussie Yellow Submarine.

Now, you’re nowhere near the coast here –

Holbrook is well inland – so you might well ask

what a submarine is doing here in the first place.

Answer – it was acquired after HMAS Otway

was decommissioned by the Royal Australian

Navy back in 1995, and has been a town

centrepiece every since. But it had never

attracted worldwide notice before Murray Arts

(www.murrayarts.org.au) and the Greater Hume

Shire Council (among others) decided to knit/

crochet/stitch it a big yellow jumper and call

for contributions from around the globe. The

success of the project was overwhelming,

drawing craft contributions from as far away

as the UK, from stitchers aged from four to

96 years. We thought it was spectacularly

remarkable and wanted those who couldn’t

make it through to Holbrook to have a chance

to see it. It’s not only an extraordinary

accomplishment, it is so delightfully quirky.

You can see a video of the process at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEmmiMmtHaU,

or go to the Murray Arts site at http://www.murrayarts.

org.au/index.php/yellow-submarine or tap into

this Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/

holbrookyellowsubmarine.

THE SUB PLOT

18 Homespun

HSP1511_p014-020 Pin Interest.indd 18 9/23/2014 9:35:18 AM

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