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Otago Daily Times

Crochet creative's work wows at show

With her crocheted Advent Dragon at the Creative Fibre Exhibition in Christchurch last Month is Tessa Ayers. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A crocheted dragon stitched by a self-taught Gore teenager made its way to an exclusive national fibre exhibition last month. Gore's own Tessa Ayers said the Creative Fibre National Exhibition was quite hard to get into and organisers were strict on who they let in. Despite this, 18-year-old Ms Ayers, who has be crocheting since she was 7, entered the competition with one of her creations which took her about four months to finish. The roughly basketball-sized dragon shown in Christchurch last month was made using patterns from Craft Intentions and pre-dyed wool, although often Ms Ayers dyes the wool herself, she said. "I love dyeing the colours and coming up with different combinations," she said. The artist's mother Sue Scobie said there have been fibre arts such as spinning, dying wool and knitting in the house since her daughter was small. She took Ms Ayers to her first felting class when she was just 4 years old. Ms Scobie said she would like to take credit for her daughter's crocheting talents, which had far surpassed her own, but her daughter was self-taught using books and videos. e crafty teenager said she never sought financial gain with her creations and liked to keep it as hobby that she enjoyed and that helped her relax. "It's like my wind down at the end of the day," she said. The 18-year-old had been branching out into clothing items more recently and was working on a pair of fingerless gloves. Crocheting toys were her real "love" however, making lots of dragons, ponies, phoenixes and all sorts of mythical creatures. She said she liked all the more fantastical creatures as she did not have to stick to strict colour stories, the mythical animals being whatever "magical" colour she fancied. She spent a lot of time making toys, she said, which she sometimes gives to her 8-year-old sister. "Mostly, I just make them for myself, because I want to," she said. The young Gore local is headed off to be a camp counsellor in the United States, skipping the encroaching Southland winter. She is yet to teach others her fibre skills but maybe some campers will be her first students, she said.