Three gigantic toys for babies hand-knitted by Norelle Kendrick triggered a ripple of response from the audience at the 2010 World of Wearable Arts (WOW) show when it was explained that 171 balls of yarn were required to make them.
Toys Are Us was the most ambitious entry so far for
the Nelson-based artist, who failed art at school and doesn't draw designs.
Ms Kendrick, who taught herself to knit when she was expecting her first child, loves the challenge of creating works for the show, which seeks to take art off the wall and showcase it on the body.
Toys Are Us was runner-up in the children's section, which was themed "the magic of books".
"I was very proud of this one," Ms Kendrick said. "I like it because it is telling a story for me. As a knitter it was the ultimate thing I've had to do. It had more construction and more elements."
Ms Kendrick said she has had amazing feedback about the work. She has created six works for the show over a number of years, four of which have been selected for the competition.
"People like my work, so I will keep doing it," she said. "I want to show people knitting doesn't have to be a hat or a jumper."
Ms Kendrick is hoping to launch a business designing and making high-end hand-knitted baby clothes, and her work on the WOW entries is fitted in around that.
The parent of autistic children and past foster parent of a special-needs child, Ms Kendrick said the work was dedicated to parents who never get past the baby section of toy catalogues because their children's development doesn't let them. "Everything [seems] fine but in the background the clock is moving on and your child is not.
"There is always a message in my works."
