When you don’t like the way your surroundings look, you have two choices. You can either live with it, or you can do something about it. Technically speaking you could also move, but that’s not an option for Christine Reitze who lives in Sumner, Christchurch, because she loves being near the sea.
“I was looking at the containers which are being used to protect our streets from falling rocks and finding them really unattractive in that context. Normally I quite like shipping containers, but in Sumner they are just an ugly reminder of the June earthquake, when the cliffs started to come down. I decided I needed to do something,” says Christine.
Initially Christine thought about using fabric but then settled on doing a knitting and crochet project instead. “I wanted to do something that was more communal. Knitting is something that lots of people can do. You don’t have to be an artist to contribute.”
Christine has worked out that she’s going to need roughly 860 squares for her giant Container Cozy, with each square 30cm x 30cm. So far she has around 100, with squares arriving daily thanks to the project’s increasing profile.
The exact details of how she’s going to sew up the squares are still a bit up in the air as Christine figures out whether she is going to need a lining to prevent everything from stretching. If anyone has any suggestions, or experience with covering really large stuff in knitted squares, Christine would love to hear from you!
All things going to plan, Christine hopes to have enough squares by mid to late November. She has her heart set on covering a container within Sumner village – one of the ones opposite the Corner Shop Bistro.
“We can ‘pretty up’ our own environment,” says Christine. “We don’t have to wait for others to do it for us.”
For more information about Container Love and how to get involved, visit their facebook page.
I absolutely love this idea and will spread the word among my crafty friends