Kōwhaiwhai is the 4th in my collection of crochet cushions whose motifs are based on tāniko patterns.
The collection also contains interpretations of pitau, aramoana & aronui.

Being Māori, knowing & loving harakeke, muka & tāniko as I do, it is such an honour & pleasure to be able to create these pieces.

I love the patterns. 
I love the process of translating them into graphs from which I can then crochet cushions. 
I love the wool that they are made from. 
I love that it is 100% New Zealand grown & manufactured. 
I love that it is produced in small batches, hand dyed & unique.
I love the soft warmth & lofty comfort the completed cushions provide.

They make my heart sing.

For those unfamiliar with where Taranaki is, look at a map of the north island of NZ, on the western side, there's a rounded belly poking out, kinda half way between Auckland & Wellington, that's the region of Taranaki & in the centre of the region stands Taranaki, our mountain.

Taranaki is our mountain. 
A dormant andesitic stratovolcano. 
It is an iconic, ever present ( tho not always visible) landmark which created our landscape, determined the regional topography, rivers & plains, influences our weather & infuses our being.

Taranaki infuses people with identity, a sense of belonging & connection.
Wherever we go & for how ever long we are away, our mountain waits for us & whenever we return we look for it, we need to see it, then we know, absolutely, we are home. 


Depending on which side of the mountain you live determines where it features in your landscape. 
For us, it's to our south, guarding us from behind. 

I decided, when I taught myself to crochet, that I would make flowers as they seemed to me to be an extremely good way to learn crochet stitches & techniques, they are small, quick to make & they are beautiful. 
So I made loads of them, all different sizes, different yarns & in a multitude of colours. 
Then I wondered what to do with them & how to display them, so I turned them into brooches. 

I love the crochet flowers both to crochet & to look at, I love their complexity, vibrancy & colour. 
Brooches are versatile. 
They can be worn on shirts, jackets or coats, used to hold scarves or shawls in place, attached to bags, pinned on the wall & I have been known to attach them to toys.

I started thinking about other brooches I might make. 
Circular, but less complex, fewer colours, less busy, simplified. 
I had been felting brightly coloured crochet nesting bowls for gifts & had also made a couple of 'double skinned' bowls (where the inner & outer are crocheted as a continuation of each other then united in the felting process …that was fun & I must re-visit that process one day)

Resulting from those experiments was the next incarnation of brooches which were the concentric circles of varying colours, made out of wool & felted. 
I made 2 series, one using more subdued colours which have a completely different aesthetic & appeal. 
The other series using the bright colours I had used for the felted bowls which I decided to embroider as if they are buttons. 
Brooch…Button …get it ?.…anyway …

Then I twigged that the felted circle* is actually the ideal little 'canvas' on which I can 'draw' with embroidery. 

Currently I make the brooches in batches, up to 5 at a time. 
I crochet the circles for the bases which I then hand felt. 
The circles are shaped, dried, then re-shaped if needed & shaven to make them flatter & less hairy then they are naturally. 
By making the bases myself I get the size & colour I want. 

I design a pattern, draw it, then embroider the brooch. 
I make a backing of an acrylic felt disc to which I have securely hand stitched a brooch back/pin.
I sandwich cotton batting between the backing & the brooch for shaping. 
These layers are glued together using a quality fabric to fabric glue.

Each brooch is individually handcrafted & all absolutely unique which is what it's all about.

Small, lightweight, wearable works of art.

The full selection of circle brooches & embroidered brooches which are available in our Etsy shop can be found here

*these are not really circles but hexagons due to the way I crochet them