Man of Steel, Balls of wool

I worked for Bluescope Steel for just shy of 25 years.
During that time, I was actually featured in Australia’s Creative Knitting magazine.
Due to my work environment I said it wasn’t knitting it was TYING KNOTS WITH STICKS.
The headline? “Man of Steel, Balls of Wool.”

It all started when my mum showed me how to cast on.
She was helping my youngest daughter, and I needed to learn so I could step in if my daughter forgot once we got home.
Well, I was hooked (pun intended!).
I started out simple, making a scarf after mastering the basic knit and purl pattern.

My Egg Cup Beanies

Eventually, I found a pattern for a knitted beanie and decided to give it a shot.
Knowing nothing about needle sizes or tension, I just jumped right in.
The resulting hat was tiny—it wouldn’t have even fitted a preemie baby!
That’s when lightbulb moment struck: I realized it was the exact right size to sit on an egg and keep it warm.

I found some perfect egg cups with cute faces on them at a $2 shop and bought out their entire stock.
Through a bit of trial and error, I developed my own custom pattern and started knitting them during my shifts at the mill.
Once I began making them in Australian Football team colors, demand blew up.
I had so many orders I could barely keep up, and found myself making pom-poms at home in advance just to stay ahead.

Overseas Requests

In the magazine article, I mentioned that anyone interested in my egg cup pattern could email me.
I had no idea what was coming—I started receiving emails from all around the world asking for a copy! (If only I’d charged a dollar for each one!)
One lady from South Africa even reached out after buying the magazine at the airport on her travels.

Before long, I was knitting matching hats and scarves for my kids—much to their embarrassment!

I’ve been knitting for a long time now.
These days, my favorite things to make are animals, especially my cats.
Like most of my projects, following strict pattern specifics isn’t really my strength.
My first attempt at knitting a cat came out twice as big as it should have simply because I didn’t check the needle gauge and used whatever I had on hand.
But honestly, that spontaneous style is what I stick to and enjoy most.

For me, knitting is a wonderfully relaxing pastime—though it still gives your brain a good workout when you’re tackling a tricky pattern!

I find knitting to be a very relaxing pastime.
It also makes you sometimes concentrate when following a slightly harder pattern.

Do you want to learn in Rayong

Check out my post about learning to knit in Rayong.