Give-away from Mamma4Earth!
Welcome to Linda Dawkins!
"I have always loved knitting, my mom taught me to knit when I was 5 years old. When she was younger she knitted cricket jerseys for all of her brothers. I used to often see her knitting when I was little, she knitted us a variety of clothing including our royal blue jerseys for school, these were the softest jerseys, so much softer than the shop bought ones. One day I asked her if she could show me how to knit and she did. She gave me two short, size 4mm knitting needles and a ball of blue double knitting wool. I can remember that day clearly. I was always encouraged to try and knit her projects that she was busy with, this was wonderful because I managed to master some complicated patterns and knitting terminology at a young age and she always helped me along the way. I attended a Catholic convent school while growing up and knitting was a part of our curriculum, there were new projects to make for school each year and when I was older I started to knit more advanced items. The first jersey I knitted was a cabled design, I was 18 years old and I still have that jersey today.
After my husband and I had children, I studied to be a Montessori preschool teacher, I taught for a few years and then after the birth of our fourth child, Kye, we decided that I would no longer work but rather homeschool our children. I discovered the wonderful world of Waldorf education with all its beautiful natural toys and this is when I started knitting toys. At first, I just knitted them because toy patterns were so adorable but then I felt a change developing. A few months later, Mamma4earth, our family business, was born and has been growing each year since 2008. I began to really start looking at animals, I noticed that when I encountered an animal or bird I would often study its shape and see the curves and bulk of its body. I would watch its movement and grace. I would calculate the stitches in my mind and see the animal become a knitted creation in my mind's eye. The design usually marinades within my consciousness for a few days and then I begin the pattern writing and designing process. When I start to write a pattern, I usually continue writing until I am finished, I seldom start designing and finish later, this tends to break the flow of my thoughts. Often I wake early in the morning and while my eyes are still closed, I think of a new design, this is one of the most exciting aspects of my creative process. I love how my thoughts eventually fall into place and a new creature takes form... My inspiration stems from my beautiful family and the wildlife that we are surrounded by in this lovely country of ours.
My family and I live in South Africa, we have a suburban homestead where we grow veggies and fruit and live a sustainable lifestyle. We have a whole troop of chickens, rabbits, cats, birds, fish and our newest pet that seems almost human at times... a Labrador called Sandy. I often write about our life on our blog called Natural Suburbia. You can find my patterns for sale on Etsy, my Craftsy Shop and my Ravelry Store.
Links:
Giveaway:
The winner will receive 8 patterns of their choice!
Entries include leaving a comment on the Natural Suburbia blog, "Like"ing Mamm4earth Facebook page, Repinning a Mamma4earth pattern image on Pinterest, Following Mamma4earth on Twitter, adding Mamma4earth as a friend on Ravelry, or purchasing something from the Mamm4earth Etsy shop. That's up to 6 opportunities to win!
