Chosen Family Project at HRYC!
We are so excited to announce a pop up event at the start of next month in Wellington! Keen to be involved? This is the perfect opportunity. In a nutshell:
When?
Next Sunday, 1st June. From 11-2pm
Where?
Holland Road Yarn Company, 1 Waiwhetu Road, Lower Hutt
What to expect:
A casual, inclusive crafternoon in a cosy yarn store, working on our Chosen Family Project.
🌈Intro:
The Chosen Family Project is a fabulous, collaborative crafting effort. The completed project will be a knitted and crocheted wall-hanging, started with the support of the Wellington Museum. The idea is to knit, crochet, weave (or whatever craft makes sense to you!) a house. This project builds on the Chosen Family ethos of coming together with the family you have made with people you have found. It celebrates our diverse queer crafting community by asking participants to contribute a part of a house to populate our little queer village. Each house will represent the unique chosen family in our lives, and how together we create something beautiful. This project aims to highlight the beauty of individuality, as well as the whole. Make your house as unique as you'd like to, because just like families, and just like people, our differences are what makes us beautiful.
🏡What will you see at the Chosen Family Project pop-up?
Steven and Arlo will be at the Chosen Family pop-up, alongside Tash from Holland Road Yarn Company. There will be a life-sized mock-up of what you can contribute to, with templates for you to take away to make. You will get to pick the pieces you would like to make and we will hand out yarn for you to knit or crochet your template(s) - you can customise your house however you see fit. We will sit and craft together, continuing our 2025 Chosen Family artwork. As this is a safe space for all makers, please ensure we are respectful of the space and each other. You will have the chance to admire the beautiful space Holland Road Yarn Company has lent us for the afternoon - check out their supply of yarn, crochet hooks, needles and more.
🪡When will we finish the Chosen Family Project?
We intend the artwork to be a living project, where a community of crafters will gather periodically to craft together and share their progress. Monthly weekend meet-ups will be scheduled in and around Wellington. Crafters can also work on their pieces in their own time and submit their pieces as they go. The project leads will lovingly collect and stitch together the completed house parts.
So rather than starting and finishing the artwork in one go, the project will act as a focal point for a community of crafters to gather until the artwork is complete.
🧶What will be supplied?
Base yarn will be provided to you for the pieces you wish to create, supplied by Wellington Museum. You can also dive into your stash, or the array or yarns available at Holland Road Yarn Company, picking colours that blend into the overall theme. We will be using DK or 8ply weight yarn. We encourage people to bring their own hooks or needles to work a reasonably tight fabric with 8ply (around 3mm to 4mm hooks or 4mm needles), but these can also be purchased on the day. We have a small set of spare hooks and needles we can lend to impromptu participants.
There will be a selection of yarn-safe snacks!
🏘️What will the overall artwork look like?
Check out the design work for the 2025 Chosen Family event at the bottom of this post. This is the inspiration and starting point of our group project – little houses in tie-dye rainbow colours stitched together in blacks and charcoals. The template for the artwork will be available to see at Chosen Family events, and you will see exactly which pieces you will be contributing.
Thank you again for your interest in this project. It would not exist without the support of our community, and we are so excited to see how this artwork grows and changes alongside us.
Feel free to share this event!! Beginners and advanced crafters welcome! We look forward to seeing you there.
Follow us on Instagram @chosen_family_project 
