By Kyra Gillespie
When talented craftswoman Dorothy Illing passed away last year, her husband Ray was determined to continue showing his late wife’s work to the world.
One of the last pieces Dorothy ever knitted – a beautiful cable cardigan – was submitted by Ray for exhibition at the Pakenham Show over the weekend.
So impressed were the judges, that Ms Illing was awarded the Perpetual Trophy.
Mr Illing accepted the award in his wife’s honour on Saturday. It would have been their 61st wedding anniversary.
“I submitted it because it was the last thing Dot knitted just before she passed away. She knitted it to go into last year’s show but she didn’t finish it on time,” Ray Illing said.
“I put it in because it was so good and she put a lot of work into it.
“It was very emotional accepting the trophy in her honour; we would have been wed 61 years on the day. You can just imagine what that felt like, but I was really proud of her.”
Ray said Dorothy first picked up the knitting needles when she was four years old. By the time she was five she knitted a scarf for her uncle, who was away in the war at the time.
“Her aunty is still alive, and she still has that scarf that she knit back then,” Ray said.
“She was very artistic and very talented; when she was in the CWA won prizes for her dressmaking, lace draping, china painting and more. Everything had to be perfect; if it wasn’t right she would start all over again.”
The couple migrated to Australia from England in 1971, living in Melbourne, then Queensland, and eventually settling in Pakenham to be close to one of their sons.
“My fondest memory over those years was our first holiday together to the Isle of Man in 1957. Every year we’d talk about it.
“We lived a frugal life and a good life. I am so proud of her.”
