REPETITIVE strain injury: There must be an awful lot of it in Warwick at the moment, given the quantity of knitting and crochet on trees, statues and any other stationary object in the CBD.

I don't know how people have the patience to do it.

I've had enough of handicrafts at the moment ... and my contribution to our tree jumper wasn't all that significant.

My friends and I this year took a serious dive into the world of K&C and our tree jumper should have been marked with a black-on-yellow L-plate.

In years gone by, our mantra has been that no knitting needles were harmed in the creation of the tree jumper ... but last year one or two members plied the needles and covered elements in knitting.

This year we endeavoured to up the ante with textiles and knit or crochet the entire tree. (Other years we've had hand-stitched elements.)

Talk about labour intensive, especially because K&C were not skills we had or they were exceedingly rusty. Let's face it, I haven't had cause to crochet in the 40 years since Nana taught me.

We've been at it most of the year, albeit mostly in the past two months.

Talk about boring. I have zero patience for sitting and crocheting woollen squares, although they were more likely to actually be square when I did concentrate.

(Our tree had crocheted roses which involved a repetitive pattern ... but my paltry efforts were duds because I couldn't concentrate long enough to remember the pattern. Thank goodness for Kelly Thompson's skill.)

Even the frustrating task of piecing together the squares was painful, particularly to our spines.

A friend's mother said she didn't know what to do at night now her tree jumper was complete because she'd been knitting elements for so long.

My mother-in-law also mentioned her friend knitting squares for the art gallery. I think it's great that people who choose not to enter a tree jumper can still contribute to the festival.

Indeed, much of the joy of the festival is making a contribution. The end result is impressive.

Even without crocheting, you could say I'm hooked.

Take a bow knitters and crocheters of Warwick.