Time to Crochet

Janice Creenaune meets long-time Coledale resident Anna Blackman, who has retired as a highly esteemed local photographer and found a new creative passion and an ethical outlet through Covid

Anna Blackman has always been creative, but in retirement she looked forward to international travel and painting. But then Covid hit and everything changed.

“I was looking for something that was fun and easy, something that I could do easily from home. So I looked to crochet. I had always knitted, but crochet worked with one hook and yet continued my passion and pleasure in working with yarn. YouTube offered ease of instruction where I learned the basics of crochet and I easily lifted the craft into other possibilities.”

Passion, enthusiasm and skill are always infectious and Anna has these traits in abundance, but what she also brings to her art is a true
ethical element.

“I had travelled to Peru in September of 2019 and I visited an alpaca farm, which had amazing yarn. It was organically dyed, sometimes with berries, cabbage, flowers, beetles, seeds and spices.

“It did awaken my views and it had a certain ‘feel’ to it that was not evident in normal chemically coloured and processed wool.

“I filled my bags to return but this experience had awakened my ethical stand and further research has increased my resolve to work ethically.”

As well as baby alpaca yarn from Peru, Anna also imports Italian angora. Belgium linen yarn is another product with which she enjoys working.

“I love the undyed merino from Nundle, too, in particular. Sometimes my daughter-in-law dyes silk with brown onion skin or turmeric and I join yarns to crochet for effect.

“It is the tactile feel of the material which I enjoy working with and the more natural the fibre the better it feels. It has to be as natural a product as I can obtain.”

Ideas and being creative come naturally to her.

“I do need to concentrate, but I also enjoy the repetition of a project,” Anna says.

Scarves offer almost a meditative atmosphere for her. “I do actually find it relaxing, even quite blissful at times.

“Scarves can be reasonably plain to produce but the choice of yarn or double-yarns sometimes with a particular edging allows it to feel especially appealing wrapped against the skin.”

Anna has a will to continually create and in particular something that lasts. She works on many projects at once and most days starts something completely at random.

“I have no trouble letting go of my projects because my mind is actively engaged on the next project anyway, always what is coming next.

“I am currently selling out of 55 Parrots in Bulli in winter and am setting up an Etsy shop soon called, ‘Only One Made’.

“Each of my projects is unique, ethically dyed with something from the earth and good for the environment.

“I want a small footprint from my work and to encourage people to think about what is best for the earth as well as themselves.

“The yarns often still incorporate a natural lanolin and the feel of the final product is especially gratifying.”

Ultimately, Anna’s crochet pieces have a deeply felt ethical element interwoven with the yarn itself.

Look for Anna’s projects locally and online.

Writer Janice Creenaune is a volunteer for the PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) Foundation Australia. Email janicecreenaune@gmail.com