Putting Poppies in the Park Together

Gigantic red poppy under construction

Since our last workshop we've been sorting out poppies.  And including all big & small poppies - it's official - there's a thousand.  (Loud fanfare please.) How fantastic is that - and rather more than expected!  We've had to make our poppy twice as gigantic and had to enlist extra help (thanks so much Helen, Kate & Lily for attaching hundreds of poppies!)

So here's just a sneaky peek at what to expect  ...

Gigantic poppies - above and below - knitted, stitched & crocheted by the local community

Gigantic whte poppy - 190cm diameter

Giant poppies - extreme knitting

Giant red poppy - 1m diameter

Giant white poppy - 1m diameter

 
Big Poppies - big knitting

Big red poppy 57cm diameter (thanks to Fiona, Sue & Angela)

Big white poppy - 70cm diameter (thanks to Sarah, Sue & Angela)

The Poppies in the Park Yarnstorming Installation goes up in Rowntree Park on Thursday 11 June 2015 and will be up until after the Rowntree Park Birthday Party on 12 July 2015.  

Come on down - it's going to be great!

Poppies in the Park has been sponsored by the Friends of Rowntree Park, Boyes & Duttons for Buttons and wouldn't have been possible without all the fabulous poppy making plus arm and finger knitting by the local community at workshops and at home.   Poppy makers of York - you're the best!

Read more about the workshops here ... 
Poppies in the Park go to Rowntree Park Reading Cafe, York  
Poppies in the Park go to Tesco  
Poppies in the Park Workshop at the Golden Ball York

or about the Fairfax Court Yarnstormers here ...

Fairfax Court Yarnstorming Ahead

or about the extreme knit poppies here ...

Extreme Knitting Continues with a Giant White Poppy

A Giant Poppy - More Extreme Knitting

Poppies in the Park Workshop at the Golden Ball York

The first Poppies in the Park workshop was at the Golden Ball pub in York on Tuesday.  It was a busy night and we took over two rooms. 

It was quite a night for stitching - possibly because we had gatecrashed the UFO (UnFinished Objects) Group's regular night and had a contingent from Sew Chatty join us too.  You may remember the fantastic yarnstormed horse that the UFO Group created and the beautiful flower garland that Sew Chatty made at our first yarnstorming event in Rowntree Park.

White stitched poppies

Red stitched poppies

Ordinary knitting was also on the needles.  No needles necessary for the arm knitting and finger knitting though - and spot the pompoms!

Knitted poppies, pompoms, arm knitting & finger knitting

And of course there was big knitting too - Fiona & Sarah took up the big knit poppy challenge.  I hope there'll be someone to continue the big knitting challenge at our next workshop on Saturday!

Big knit poppies are underway!

Thanks to everyone who came along and made poppies with us.  We've made a fantastic start!  Thanks too, to the Golden Ball for having us.

Poppies in the park workshops are taking place in Craft & Design Month - come and be creative with us!

The Poppies in the Park yarnstorming installation goes up in Rowntree Park, York on 11 June 2015 and is sponsored by Friends of Rowntree Park, Boyes and Duttons for Buttons

Getting Ready for Poppies in the Park

Our first workshop is tomorrow.  If you want to do some big knitting - we're prepared ...

White yarn - 950g, 25mm big needles

Red yarn - 780g, 25mm big needles

If you want to do ordinary knitting, finger knitting or pompom making - we're ready ...

Yarn for white poppies

Yarn for red poppies

Yarn for poppy centres

and if you want to try arm knitting - we've got some super chunky lined up ....

Super chunky yarn

You can see the big poppies that are completed or under construction ...

Giant red poppy completed (almost 1m diameter)

White poppy under construction - extreme knitting with extreme needles

and if you want to do a bit of stitching - there's a choice of stitching too!

Felt, buttons and beads for stitching poppies - or use those lovely buttons for the centre of your knitted poppies!

Read more about Poppies in the Park or go straight to the Knitting patterns and links to Crochet patterns.  

Don't forget it's:

and what better way to celebrate craft than to come along and get involved!  Drop in - all materials provided.  Come and have a go - we're very friendly, honest!

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!