Volunteer to make blankets out of mini jerseys for Oxfam

Blankets using the jerseys made square

You may remember all the excitement about the Tour de France in Yorkshire earlier this year.  You may also remember knitting mini jerseys for the Knit a Bike Installation in York or for the Tour de Bunting displays across Harrogate district.  In fact Harrogate had over 23,000 mini jerseys knitted for their displays.  

 

Blankets which keep some of the jersey shape

Now they are working on turning the mini jerseys into blankets for Oxfam - and they need your help.  With about 5,000 jerseys still to stitch together they are after volunteers to come to their aid.  At the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate in November some of the blankets already made were on show (and baskets of the jerseys yet to be stitched together!)

So if you can get to Harrgate to collect some jerseys and can lend a hand stitching them together then please email Sue Wood at Harrogate Borough Council:

 sue.wood@harrogate.gov.uk

Sales from York's Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation Support Marie Curie Cancer Care

Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation for Le Tour Yorkshire

You may remember all those cute little mini jerseys that made up the bunting on the Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation in Rowntree Park, York for Le Tour Yorkshire.  And you may remember reading about it all being taken down and the plan to sell the mini jersey bunting to support Marie Curie Cancer Care (the Tour de France's official charity). Well - it has now all been sold and £145 has been raised.  

Mini jersey bunting, washed and ready for sale!

So - thanks to everyone who helped knit it and to everyone who bought it. Yay!

Mini Jersey Bunting Supports Marie Curie Cancer Care

The Knit a Bike Installation, celebrating Le Tour Yorkshire, is gone but the jerseys have been washed ...

the labels have been printed...

and the mini jerseys have been put back on their black knitted cord ...

so they are now ready for sale in aid of Mare Curie Cancer Care, the official charity of the Tour de France Grand Départ.

They are for available for £10 per set plus £3.50 postage and packing (UK only).  All proceeds (excluding postage & packing) will be forwarded to Marie Curie Cancer Care so if you want to add a donation as well that would be great.  There are only 10 strings of bunting still available and all were part of the Knit a Bike Installation in Rowntree Park, York. (This project was sponsored by the Friends of Rowntree Park, was part of the Yorkshire Festival & the York: Be Part of it Festival Programme which celebrated the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014)

The bunting cord is approx. 3.2 metres long and each set has 7 mini jerseys.  Two sets have yellow and white jerseys and all the rest are various shade of yellow.  The jerseys vary in size and shade.  They can be hand washed.  The bunting cord should be washed separately to the mini jerseys.  If you are interesting in buying a set please email me.  My email address is here.

Going, going , gone - the Knit a Bike Installation comes down!

Today we took the Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation down.  It was the most gorgeous day in Rowntree Park, York - rather like the day we put the installation up!

We've really enjoyed the excitement of ...

 
and all those mini Tour de France jerseys ...

There were some fantastic shadows today ...

 but it was ...

going ...

going ...

gone!

Thanks to everyone who let us go ahead with our mad idea, to those who took part and helped us realise it and to the Friends of Rowntree Park who sponsored it.  It was great helping Yorkshire & York celebrate the Grand Départ of the Tour de France and being part of the Yorkshire Festival 2014 and York: Be part of it.  Hope you've all enjoyed it and taken lots of photos.  Have a great summer!

If you want to read more about the Knit a Bike Installation check out the blogposts in March, May, June & July 2014.

What's the Knit a Bike Installation made of?

The Knit a Bike Installation in Rowntree Park

Sugar & spice and all things nice - no, nothing like that - well, maybe the all things nice bit!  The other day, I was writing a letter detailing what went into the Knit a Bike Installation & afterwards, I thought other people might like to know too.  So here goes:

The mini jersey bunting:

79 mini tour jerseys

37 metres of knitted bunting cord 

The big jerseys:

4 large tour jerseys made from 4 wool blankets cut up into yarn

20 red felt polka dots stitched in place

The writing:

13 metres of finger knitting

The bike:

12 metres of arm knitting

10 metres of finger knitting

1.9 metres of crochet 

Not to mention:

3 decorated wheels

54 pompoms

1 information sign

All made by lots of lovely people :

 

 

at two workshops

84 person hours

and the Fairfax Court Yarnbombers

100 person hours

And that doesn't include all the additional time people spent at home making things for us.  

And finally:

Time Taken to Put up the Installation

18 person hours

So once again thanks to everyone who helped to #bepartofit!  And thanks to the Friends of Rowntree Park for sponsoring us and to Rowntree Park Reading Cafe and Your Bike Shed Bicycle Cafe for letting us hold out workshops there.

Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation for Le Tour Yorkshire - Rowntree Park, York

Friday 6 June 2014 was the day that we put up the Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation in Rowntree Park, York in celebration of the Tour de France Grand Depart which leaves York on 6 July 2014.  It was a beautiful sunny day - thank goodness!

First of all we had to lay out our equipment & plans ... 

wheels and whatnot

ladder & plans

Then up went the mini bunting ...

mini bunting on display

followed by the big jerseys ...

Deborah & Helen hard at work

Meanwhile I got to work on the bike ...

bike in progress

 and the text ...

le tour ?

Deborah working on a wheel

and eventually the writing was complete together with wheels & pompoms!

le tour yorkshire in finger knitting

Le Tour wheel

crochet wheel

So were the jerseys ...

big knitting tour jerseys on display

and finally the bike ...

the bike - created from arm & finger knitting & a bit of crochet

et voila ...

We started at 10am and foolishly thought we would be done by lunchtime.  In fact it was about 4pm when we finally finished.  We think it was worth it though and we hope you do too.  Thanks to everyone who came along to help create this installation either at Workshop #1 or Workshop #2 to #bepartofit or sent us mini jerseys (especially the Fairfax Court Yarnbombers who made 33!).  Extra thank yous go to Deborah New who helped me organise and run this project and to Helen Hodge who helped us install it.

This project was sponsored by ...

was part of York: Be part of it ...

and the Yorkshire Festival 2014 ...

The first workshop took place during Voluntary Arts Week and both were in Craft & Design Month 2014.

And now I think I'll go and put my feet up for a bit!

Fairfax Court Yarnbombers Strike Again!

Fairfax Court Yarnbombers with all their mini yellow jerseys -
Dot, Edna, Doris, Doreen & Pauline

You may remember the productivity of the Fairfax Court Yarnbombers from our Yarnbombing Event in Rowntree Park last year.  Well - they've come up trumps again! 

Jose

Jose, from the Fairfax Court Knit & Natter Group, was in touch to see what was going on this year.  So, I went along at the end of April.  We talked about the Yorkshire Festival 2014, and York: Be part of it. Both are celebrating the Grand Départ of the Tour de France with 100 days of art & culture from 27 March to 6 July 2014 when Le Tour leaves York.  I also told them about our part in it - the Knit a Bike yarnstorming project. And in no time at all they'd knitted loads of mini yellow tour jerseys for our Knit a Bike Installation.

A very big thank you to Jose, Dot, Edna, Doris, Doreen & Pauline - great work ladies!  

The Knit a Bike Installation goes up in Rowntree Park on 6 June 2014 & will be in place for International Yarnbombing Day on Saturday 7 June 2014.

Workshop #2 - Knit a Bike for Le Tour Yorkshire

Everyone involved in our workshop!

On Thursday 22 May our workshop took over Rowntree Park Cafe.  Everyone soon got going with one or other of the projects.  Above you can see mini jerseys in the making and below - wheel, spokes and frame underway, not to mention a big jersey!

Arm knitting, finger knitting & big knitting

And pompoms were very popular this afternoon ...

Pompom makers extraordinaire

And more pompom makers

Pompoms & spots

Just needed to get those big jerseys done too ...

The final big knit jersey is underway

while the King of the Mountains gets his spots!

We had tremendous support today and people even brought in their homework!

Mini jersey homework!

Anyone wanting to knit a mini jersey to be used in our installation can find the pattern here.  Completed jerseys (only in yellow please) should be left at Rowntree Park Cafe before 6 June 2014.  

I think we've almost got a bike now.  I'm not showing you any more until we've put it up except this ...
 

More of the frame ...

and another wheel & spokes!

We've certainly got all the big jerseys (and some very cute little ones).  

Maillot blanc (well it is the Tour de France)

King of the Mountains

So what can I say?  Just a huge thank you to everyone who came along to #bepartofit. A big thank you too, to Rowntree Park Cafe for having us - fab tea & cake!
 
This project is sponsored by the Friends of Rowntree Park, is part of the Yorkshire Festival, the York: Be Part of it Festival Programme and is championing Craft & Design Month 2014.