How Granny came to be

 

In 2011, a container ship, the MV Rena, ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef in the Bay of Plenty. A large oil slick from the wreck engulfed a wide area. Many birds, including Little Blue Penguins, were affected by the slick. Locals flew into action, cleaning up the oil and rescuing the penguins and other birdlife.

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A call was made for people to knit little jumpers to keep the penguins warm through the cleaning process. (In the end the jumpers weren't used for this as the process would have been too stressful for the penguins, but the jumpers were put on soft toy penguins and sold to raise money for penguin conservation. Find out more here.)

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At that time I was not a proficient knitter. But, with the plight of the penguins on my mind, I bought yarn and knitting needles and cast on some stitches. My knitting was painfully slow.

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When I dropped a stitch (this happened often) I jumped over the back fence to my neighbour, a fast and furious knitter. She unravelled rows and rows of my knitting, found the lost stitches, and re-knitted the  rows in two seconds flat.

 

Hopping back over the fence, the idea for Granny McFlitter, a prolific knitter, was born.