Cold Water Wake Up Call
It seems everywhere I turn someone is talking about or participating in cold water swimming right now.
Three C’s: Claire Crochets Cacti
by Lily Whiting
Claire is a self taught crochet artist, creating super cute cacti that she sells around Hobart.
How did you get into crocheting? A friend of mine taught me to crochet and I loved it straight away. She taught me the basics and I then learnt more from YouTube and online patterns. I started out making stuffed animals for my friends who had babies or kids; and was always told “you should sell these.”
Why do you enjoy it? I find it super relaxing and plus I can multi-task very well while enjoying a new Netflix series… I mean, is there anything better than that? My designs are always my own, and I like to keep them fun while looking fairly natural – although some designs have eyes for some cheeky fun!
Where is the farthest afield (or unexpected!) location your work has ended up? The beautiful ladies at the Tassie Makers Market have mentioned a few of my products have been purchased in store and will be heading to a few different countries in Europe. I’m half Slovenian so I’ve mailed a few cacti to my family over there. It’s cool to think these people legitimately have a one-of-a-kind product in their entire country.
You must be getting pretty quick, how many cacti can you make a week? Each one is different to make, taking a different amount of time to make plus also the demands of my day to day job. At a guess, I think in a week I can make roughly 20 to 30 pieces!
Aside from crocheting, how is your other day job? When I’m not crocheting, I enjoy my other job working remotely as a disability travel consultant for a company in Western Australia. I really enjoy the job, even though I am not there in person to enjoy my colleague’s company. I love it because there are always different holidays to plan and everyone wants something different which works well with my dislike for repetitiveness!
What does your role within disability tourism entail? My job is to plan an itinerary for a client. They may want a seven day tour from Perth to Albany for example, or we may have a client from another state wanting to travel to Perth. My job means I must know what our disabled clients’ needs are and accommodate for that in activities and accommodation on their holiday. Finding wheelchair accessible accommodation isn’t easy and is rarely easily advertised online or I might need to find a nature walk, a zoo or wildlife park that is flat and accessible. Not all our clients are in wheelchairs, but we like to make sure our tours accommodate and are inclusive to everyone as much as we can.
What do able-bodied Hobartians take for granted here? I would say most things taken for granted surround access. Hobart is very hilly with lots of heritage listed buildings which are not allowed to be changed. Public transport, although not even perfect in Hobart for the able-bodied either, is incredibly unreliable and unsafe for disabled people of Hobart. Buses are unsafe because they don’t use tie down straps which prevent people from falling out of their wheelchairs on buses; Maxi Taxis I have personally found to be very unreliable and there are no accessible Ubers in Hobart. I think just getting from point A to point B at your leisure is always taken for granted. That certainty isn’t the world I live in, yet hopefully a car next year will help.
How can readers get their hands on a crochet piece? Most of my stock is at the Tassie Makers Market in Centrepoint. Products can be found at the Little Lotus Café, some exclusive keychains at Lily and Dot and a small amount of stock at the Chemist on Bathurst Street. My online website is www.threecs.com.au with free click and collect!
Any new collections in the works? I just launched some plants to my collection. I now have sunflowers and daisies which are selling really well. Keep up to date on Facebook and Instagram, just search Three C’s…. I’m there somewhere.
