Get ahead, get a hat

Now I know it's usually Anna who writes 16+ paragraphs on how great our makers are and I write the equivalent 15+ paragraphs on some geeky thing that has put a bee in my bonnet. Times are a changing my friend, a new wind blows through u-ni-k  IT HQ, as a tidying up today uncovered my knitting bag.


Knitting is a skill I discovered while with bump, and luckily for me that means that I was able to make lovely little things for my baby to wear or sleep with or tuck up with. I'm no great knitter but I can make do with the limited skills I can do and by all accounts my tension is fantastic (probably because I stop at each row and spread out the knitting to make sure I've not dropped any stitches). However, the day I hung up my needles was the day Anna brought over the Nyoki pieces for me to view.


I don't have adequate adjectives to describe the soft, rich and incredibly light feeling of the hat and booties she bought over. Nor can I do justice to the quality of the knitting, such incredible patterns and not a stitch out of place (or any noticeable wabi sabi - see Anna's earlier post). Oh but the colours, no photograph can capture the dusky rose pink of the little girl's hat, it was like a volcanic sunset (think Ruapehu 1996). That's as about as close as I'm going to get to describe the wonderful creations Anna brought over (and of course being Anna took away with her as it's hard for anyone to tear stock out of her hands).


I don't know what moves me more, the pieces I briefly saw or the ladies who run Nyoki themselves. They've been the nicest people to work with, nothing has been too much trouble and they go the extra mile - even remembering to send Anna a "happy moving into your new home" card. You'll therefore not be surprised to learn that Nyoki works closely with job creation programs in Kosovo, giving female survivors of the Kosovo war the confidence and the financial means to support themselves and their families. When you buy a Nyoki product from u-ni-k, you are helping to rebuild their lives. 


So I'll be giving the next special little person I know a gift set from Nyoki. It'll help those ladies in Kossovo and also provide warmth and comfort to the little one, giving them both a head start in this world. And we all know, if you want to get ahead, you've got to get a hat!