There are a lot of firsts in this story, which makes it even more special to me.

It all started when I visited a crochet open day in Brisbane and came across some beautiful wool from rescued sheep. The wool had already been processed and was ready to spin, and I decided to have a try.

It was my first time spinning, so it wasn’t perfect. It came out a little lumpy in places, but I’d like to think that gave it some character.

Once the wool was spun, I found a pattern I loved in a book called Tunnisian Crochet, The Japanese Way. The original pattern was for a shrug, and I picked up a second colour from Spotlight to go with it. But as soon as I started crocheting, it became clear that I had nowhere near enough hand-spun yarn. So, this is where my knack for chopping and changing ideas came in. Rather than giving up, I adapted the pattern and turned it into a scarf instead. I kept the decorative Tunisian crochet stitch from the book, then added a shell edging along the bottom.

When the Ipswich show came around, I decided to enter the scarf. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything – this was my first hand-spun wool after all, and the project had already changed so much. But then it won first prize! My first win ever. I’m still amazed. That little lumpy first spin, turned prize winning scarf. Just goes to show that sometimes changing direction leads to something better than you imagined.