As featured by Recycled Interiors
Beautiful Handmade Chunky Knitting with The Flying Lamb
The Flying Lamb is such a wonderful name for the featured business today. Owned by Linda
Reeve, who lives on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, she describes it as a micro home business, using traditional cottage crafts with non traditional materials. This includes handmade chunky knitting, with pure Australian Merino wool, on hand shaped giant needles.
The chunky knit blankets are made from only Australian Merino – for Linda this is vital as the wool is a renewable product that supports our local economy and wool industry, and is a healthy natural choice.
Who are you? Tell us about the people behind the business I am an obsessive knitter with a serious addiction to wool. When I’m not knitting I am also a mum and Rotarian in my spare time. The business is run and managed by me, however without my family I wouldn’t be able to get it all together – husband kids and cat all contribute to the beautiful blankets.
Family are involved in ● Research & Development – “this one’s too long / short / narrow, too thick or thin, stitch or texture choices and colours” ● Product Testing – all family members consider themselves product testers and provide feedback ● Modelling ● Photographers ● Packing ● Counselling ● Marketing advice
My little family keep me going, inspire me, motivate and occasionally frustrate the hell out of me! The Kids fascinate me on a daily basis – how did they turn out to be such amazing human beings! I love my kids immensely and I’m so proud of each of my babies, watching them become amazing people following their dreams and passions is a wonderful journey. My children inspire me daily. Their superpower is courage and tenacity to live life to the fullest and never give in to the challenges reminds me to keep striving. The Cat, Boris is a silly tuxedo cat who is all attitude and kinky tail. On occasion he attempts to do a quality control on the new bale of wool, or eye off the current order. His other great skill is to sit on the laptop while ‘she’ attempts to work.
How did you start the business and what inspired you? The knitting is inspired by my mum, but the business was born from my quest to knit bigger and chunkier stitches. This of course led to the first blanket and a discovery that there are a few chunky knitters out there offering similar products, each one has their signature look but ultimately all chunky knitters. Finding other artists convinced me that other people like chunky knits and may be willing to pay for them,
What made you fall in love with the idea?
I love knitting I love the smell and feel of wool I love all sorts of woollen knits I love massive big lush stitches full of woolly goodness … and I love the idea of someone paying me to do what I love.
The other bit I love about my work is knowing the blanket will seduce it’s new owner owner into taking a moment to simply sit and relax, to take a deep breath and slow down even if it’s just for a few minutes. The blankets have magic powers like that.
It seems that life is too fast and too full, and we have a level of guilt attached to taking a nap or just simply stopping for a few minutes. My blankets are crafted with love and attention from slow moving raw materials, you can still feel the warmth from the sun soothing you, and if you take a deep breathe and listen quietly you will be able to hear the gentle rhythm of the needles click clacking inviting and enticing you to rest a while, snooze a little.
The blankets give permission to take a moment, and are a handy mindfulness tool – feel the wool texture, inhale the warm earthy aroma, become aware of how the blanket feels on your skin and how that makes you feel. I am bipolar and have been know to count the stitches and rows as a form of activity based meditation to help restore / manage brain activity, or lack of during a depression.
Was there anything you didn’t love about it? Fluff. We have a serious fluff issue in our house. If you leave your socks on when you visit my work room, you will leave looking like a hobbit (think shaggy hair feet). I don’t love attempting to vacuum the fluff, convince my husband that a little fluff around the edges is ok, or if I leave it too long the tumble weeds of fluff that appear as soon as guests turn up.
What are your thoughts on sustainability and how is this part of your business and own home?
Sustainability is a no brainer in concept for me – putting it into action is a little more challenging. I can’t change the world, but I do my little bit every day. I try to make better choices, buy what I need, not just ‘stuff’, buy local or Australian, eat fresh whenever possible, choose independent retailers who choose local. We also reuse and recycle as much as we can and donate what we can’t.
The Flying Lamb uses only Australian wool, and our key supplier processes their wool right here in Australia. The packaging is all Australian made from recycled paper. Our business format is pretty simple so apart from our raw material choices and a bit of box recycling, we just knit the best Australian product we can.
Do you have any tips for other people wanting to create a sustainable home? You need big chunky knit blankets which will reduce heating bills and electricity bills because everyone will be in the same room snuggling.
My tip is just to step back and have a think every time you buy or discard something: Is this the best choice I can make?
Some of your favourite things you create? Smiles, snuggles and peace (this seems to be what the blankets create)
My other great creative love is sewing, these days it’s quilts. I would love to get back to creating wearable pieces again but that’s not for right now.
Biggest challenge in setting up and running your business?
Practical challenges:
Cost of raw materials – my predilection for premium Australian materials does impact the bank account.
For me the other major challenge is photography – online businesses rely on gorgeous images to inform the customer … this is probably my biggest area to improve upon.
Personal challenge:
Maintaining a mindful approach to business growth. There is a lot of well meaning pressure out there to implement all the best practices all at once. We need to be social media wizards, amazing community participants, well polished retailers, super efficient accountants and all the while maintaining a serene and well yoga’d appearance. I can knit and I do my best at all the other bits. Every day I have to remind myself to the best I can, be patient, make good choices, and breathe.
To keep my business moving forward but maintain my health (mental & physical) I ask my ‘to do’ list the same question – what one thing can I do that will make the biggest impact today?
What do people say when they see your work? Not much, mostly I see the back of their heads as they squish the blanket into their faces and emit muffled sounds of joy. When they come up for air we hear ‘omg it’s so soft’ “I can’t stop touching it” and “do your arms ache?” The next natural response is to wrap the blanket around themselves. You can see their faces change as they take a moment to just feel the blanket.
Do you recommend any particular materials, processes or ideas for people wanting to create a more sustainable and mindful home? Join the Recycled Interiors community Read a few books (go to the library: free, recycled and is a great way to be part of the community), listen to some podcasts and absorb new ideas. Give yourself a few mindful moments every day, create a couple of intentional rituals to help keep you grounded, then choose the best option for you, your family and our earth.
What do you do to relax and unwind at home?
Knit. I find the rhythm of knitting, the passive activity and gentle texture of the yarn soothing and rehabilitating. I usually knit smaller pieces, a few beanies and scarves for the family, and blanket squares. To unwind I will do a guided meditation and sometimes just have a nap, under a big blanket of course.
Would you like to share a favourite upcycle? My favourite upcycle is an enormous camping quilt I made a few years ago. Over a couple of seasons I collected our clothes and refashioned them into this enormous quilt. Pockets were left in, fabrics were mismatched, and each piece had a story to tell … ‘that was my favourite t-shirt that I wore when we …’ ‘loved those jeans so much I wore them out’ ‘that was the dress i wore when…’ etc
It wasn’t the most practical camping quilt due to it’s ridiculous size, and definitely not an elegant piece of work, but it is well loved and quite handsome in it’s own rugged way.
Anything you want to add? My blankets are gorgeous big functional pieces of art for your bedroom and lounge room, but I think they are more than that. Right from the start of their life on the sheep’s back, the blankets have a transformative effect at every step as they:
● keep the sheep warm and protected ● provide work and income for the local economy ● engage traditional skills ● provide a healthy business opportunity and income for my local economy ● create warmth and wellness for the blanket owner
Are you as much in love with this business, the story and the blankets! This is definitely on my list of must haves. You can see the full range over on The Flying Lamb.
I would love to hear if you are a knitter and have had similar experiences on your wellbeing, so please leave some comments!
Helen xx
