Community
29 March, 2024
Fancy some knitting?
OVER the past few weeks, a pair of scarves have been slowly forming outside a Camperdown store thanks to one person’s idea.
The table, located outside the front of Laffs, is a seating area which allows people to sit down for a while and knit or crochet while looking out to the avenue.
The community knitting table idea came from Kim McKenzie, who said she wanted a way for everyone to be able to participate in some form of craft.
“There’re some beautiful groups in our community; there’s the arts hub, and the Community House has a lovely area that you can go and do craft in, and up at the Showgrounds has a space for people, and there’s groups and clubs,” she said.
“I just wanted a free place, and the view in our avenue is so stunning, that I thought I could do it outside and people could do it anonymously if they like.
“Lots of people have, and I thought I could add a guest book.
“I was surprised the first week we had nine people sit down and do a couple of lines of our knitting, so I decided we needed to put some crocheting out because some people don’t like knitting. I’ve got some tunisian knitting out there too, and we’ve got two knitted scarves on the go.”
Mrs McKenzie said she has seen many people take a seat out the front of her store and knit in recent weeks, with visitors even pausing to have a go.
“There’s been loads of Melbourne people, but there were two lots from Adelaide,” she said.
“I sat out there myself because if I see someone I’ll go out there and sit with them and have a bit of a chat if they look like they’re up to it; other people are a bit more private and quite happy to do it by myself.
“There was a lady from Queensland who was there a couple of weeks ago having a bit of a knit.
“I had a beautiful lady from, and I knew her as a child, New South Wales. She came down here two days in a row, and I just sat out here with her. It was lovely; she was just sitting and knitting, and I was sitting and crocheting, and it was lovely.”
The ‘guest book’ on the table shows some of the positive response from those who took the time to stop and knit or crochet, but the table is not just there for craft.
“We had one gentlemen sit down, and I had a lady come in and tell me that he was sitting there,” Mrs McKenzie said.
“She teased him and said, ‘are you going to do some knitting’.
“He said ‘no, but it’s so lovely to have a space where I don’t have to buy anything, and I can just look at the world go by’.
“I think that’s been lovely.”
With people regularly stopping and knitting or crocheting, two scarves have been started with two other projects in their early stages.
Mrs McKenzie said she was unure of what would be done with the end product at this stage.
“I’m assuming we might give it away to someone who actually needs it, or we might sell it and give the money to whatever group we’re giving to at that point, I’m really not certain,” she said.
“It’s probably got another couple of months of knitting, the way it’s been going, until it’s actually a scarf.”
The table has been used well during the warmer months, with Mrs McKenzie planning on making some alterations to adapt to the cooling temperatures.
“Once it gets cold, we might have to bring it inside somehow, or maybe I could set up a tent or something,” she said.
“I don’t want to get rid of it because it’s still being used on a weekly basis.
“It could become a thriving hub of creating scarves.”