When it comes to her knitting, there’s no bigger buzz for Christine Baker than seeing someone put on one of her creations and get toasty and warm.
Cambridge Creative Fibre members (from left) Margaret Cairns, Jessie Bell, Tracey Sparke and Christine Baker enjoyed chatting to Eli Johnson (front) during their visit to Karāpiro School.
“I’m old school,” the retired Cambridge blueberry orchardist said. “I don’t make anything unless there’s a practical use for it.”
So she was delighted by the enthusiastic reaction she got as she handed out a colourful beanie to each of Karāpiro School’s 35 students last Wednesday.
Christine – whose daughter Alana Thompson is the school’s principal – knitted the hats and delivered them during Wool Day last Wednesday (July 30).
She and fellow Cambridge Creative Fibre members Margaret Cairns (president), Tracey Sparke (vice president) and Jessie Bell were at the school to teach students about wool. They passed around a bag of raw fleece – still dusty and redolent with lanolin – and showed how clean, washed fibre could be spun into yarn and knitted into garments.
Karāpiro School’s senior class in their new beanies, knitted for them by their principal Alana Thompson’s mother, Christine Baker.
They also gifted each student a pair of woolly slippers, donated by club members.
“There are a lot of different kinds of spinning wheels, but if you look in fairytale books, they look like Margaret’s,” Christine told the children.
Margaret encouraged the students to lick their fingers to taste the lanolin.
“It’s her party trick,” Christine told the students. “Definitely don’t do that – it tastes yucky.”
Year 5 student Eli Johnson was stoked with his red, yellow and black striped beanie.
“It looks like the Chiefs and it’s very warm,” he said.
Chrislene van Aswegen (left) accepts a pair of slippers from Christine Baker
From a sheep farm himself, he was interested to learn the coats of bison and camels could be turned into yarn. Some of his classmates were intrigued to learn sheep could get cast – stuck on their backs with their legs in the air – if they fell over after their wool had soaked up lots of water.
Christine, who began knitting around age nine, said the four women had loved their visit.
“The children were so well behaved and so interested and just little sponges,” she said.
Alana said the children had thoroughly enjoyed learning about every stage of the wool production process, from sheep farming and shearing to carding, spinning, dyeing and knitting.
“As a rural school, it’s important that our students understand the value of the wool industry – not just on a national level, but in terms of how it shapes our local identity and livelihoods,” she said.
“Its been a hands-on, meaningful experience that’s really brought their learning to life.
“They’re especially thrilled with their new beanies and slippers – many of them have barely taken them off since.”
Chrislene van Aswegen (left) and Amelia Seath-Boyte choose a free beanie from the colourful selection knitted by Christine Baker.
Cambridge Creative Fibre, known locally for splashing bright knitting over main-street trees every winter to advertise its annual exhibition, has donated hundreds of knitted items to Waikato charities over recent years.
Beneficiaries have included Loving Arms in Te Awamutu, which helps babies and their families, Cambridge midwives and, most recently, the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge in Hamilton.
“Some of our members are elderly and they’ve got no family left to knit for, so our charity work gives them a purpose and keeps them feeling needed and wanted,” Christine said.
“They want to have something in their hands and be creating – it’s like the need to have a cigarette, I think.”
Cambridge Creative Fibre members (from left) Margaret Cairns, Jessie Bell, during their visit to Karāpiro School.
Senior student Levi Hughes chooses a beanie.
Karāpiro School principal Alana Thompson and senior students Ronja Epp (left) and Amelia Seath-Boyte enjoy the new beanies Alana’s mother Christine Baker gifted them on Wool Day.
