Micklegate Arts Trail, York - 31 May 2025 to 15 June 2025

 

Micklegate Arts Trail - A Shoal of Knitted Fish

It occurred to me just the other day that I'd not blogged about the Micklegate Arts Trail (MAT) so for those who didn't get to go, I thought I should.  It was great to be involved in a 2 week extravaganza of art, music, film and poetry where 14 venues showcased the work of over 30 artists...

Micklegate Arts Trail 2025 - Artists and Venues 

MAT is organised by Navigators Art and is a collaboration between local businesses and artists and is part of the York Festival of Ideas. I took along some extreme knitting, big knitting, hula hoop weaving and crochet to exhibit on the railings of Holy Trinity Church.

Happy, Birds and Rainbow

These were mostly pieces that were originally developed for community art projects in Rowntree Park, which you can read about here (extreme knitted fish), here (big knitted fish), here (big knitted owl), here (hula hoop woven blue tit), here (crocheted Happy) and here (rainbow).  Some of these were made by me and some were made or part made by people joining in with the community projects.  It was lovely to see them all on display again!

Me with some extreme knitting

As part of MAT I brought along my extreme knitting needles so people could have a go for themselves.  And here are just a few of the people who tried it out.  It was very popular...

Extreme Knitting in Progress

There were some other great artists exhibiting in Holy Trinity Church and grounds...

MAT Holy Trinity Church - Peter Baker, Nick Walters, Lu Mason, Barry Lewis, Richard Mackness (from top left clockwise to centre)

And of course there were lots of fab artists exhibiting along the Arts Trail.  Here are just a few...

Micklegate Arts Trail 2025(clockwise from top left)- Sinead Corkery at No. 84 Deli & Cafe, Fiona Kemp at Hudson Moody, Richard Thompson at The Hooting Owl, Nick Kobyluch at Skosh 

It was great fun taking part. I hope everyone who came to visit enjoyed the trail. Thanks to Navigators Art and the York Festival of Ideas and to the venues that took part for making it possible.  Special thanks to Nick Walters for organising the Holy Trinity venue.  And then it was over...

Hippystitch Exhibit Taken down and Packed Up

Thanks to Deborah New for helping me put everything up (and who also helped with the original community projects) and to Lily Stone for helping me take it down.  Watch out for next years Art Trail!

Extreme Knitting the #TreeLeaves Conifer

Here's my extreme knitting - I've just nipped off for a cup of Yorkshire Tea!

You may already know that I like extreme knitting.  And you may also know that this year's yarnstorming project is entitled Tree Leaves (which you can read all about here) and is supporting the Woodland Trust. 
 

Tree Top Yarn

Tree Trunk Yarn

So whilst lots of people have been making small trees, I've brought out the extreme needles and have been cracking on knitting a large conifer!  Firstly though, I had to prepare some yarn.  This year I was able to find textiles in the right colours and so didn't have to dye anything.  I made my yarn from recycling 7 old curtains, a double duvet cover and 2 pillowcases and knitted it 3 strands at a time.

Getting into a bit of a tangle with my extreme knitting

In the end I used about 440m of yarn, weighing just over 3.8kg to complete my tree.  There's not really enough space to lay it out indoors, as you can see...

Extreme Knitted Conifer Indoors

and I have to put it onto a backing to make it easier to install.  With all the rain we've had I've been putting it off because it's so much easier to do outside.  However last Thursday it was a lovely day so out I went to get started...

Conifer laid out on its backing

I spent a sunny afternoon attaching the conifer to its backing and then trimming the backing to shape.  You can probably tell from the picture that the sun was definitely sinking by the time I'd finished...

Backing trimmed to the tree's shape

There's still more work to do stabilising the conifer but it's well on the way and it's just a bit more than 3m tall so I don't think you'll miss it once it's up in the park.

The Tree Leaves Yarnstorm will be installed in Rowntree Park, York from 24 July 2019 - why not pop along to see it and if you like it, you could make a donation to the Woodland Trust and mention the Tree Leaves yarnstorm.  Lots of people have been joining in with the project and knitting some fab trees and leaves which you may have caught glimpses of on social media or over on my blogposts about the four workshops that we've held.  They will all form part of the installation and the small trees will be for sale to raise funds for the Woodland Trust in September 2019. Details of the sales will be available in July.

Extreme Knitting & A Tree

Extreme Knitting - A Tree in Progress

If anyone asks what I've been doing recently I'll say,"Knitting a tree," which will no doubt confirm their worst fears that I am in fact completely bonkers! And I expect if they saw the size of my extreme needles they'd be certain of it. 

First batch of extreme yarn - 2.8kg

It's not quite that simple however as such big needles (50mm diameter) require extreme yarn!  So the first task is always to prepare some yarn.  First I gathered together some suitable materials - curtains (a lifesaver from the charity shop as they were already the right colour!), an old brown tablecloth, a dark brown fabric remnant, then an old sheet, the curtain linings from the charity shop curtains and some blankets, all of which I dyed.  They ended up various shades from terracotta to brown to grey.  Next I cut them all up into long strips, 3.5cm to 5cm wide (1.5 to 2 inches).  I rolled them up into balls and knitted them into a tree using 2-3 balls at a time.

More yarn - 1.5kg

 
That sounds all very straightforward but I kept running out of yarn and having to either cut up more or dye and cut up more.  In the end I used almost 400 metres of yarn weighing about 4.3 kilos.  And, funnily enough, the resulting tree is uniquely coloured!

Knitting (detail)

I did manage to finish the tree but couldn't lay it out anywhere inside to see how it looked - so I took it into the garden....

Tree knitting

I only have a small garden and it took up most of it!  Once down, I added a few leaves and the odd bird and took another look...

Tree with leaves and birds

It'll be in Rowntree Park, York in June as part of the Brilliant Birds Installation supporting St Leonard's Hospice (#BrilliantBirds).  You can read about the Brilliant Birds Yarnstorm here.  My tree still needs stabilising which will be quite a job so I hope the weather stays nice for it.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Tree, birds and person!

And in case you needed an idea of scale, there's a small person in the above pic to help you visualise it.

Extreme Knitting & a Fantasy Fish

Beached Fish

You may have read about this year's Fantasy Fish Yarnstorm which will be on display in Rowntree Park, York, later this year.  In preparation I have been doing some extreme knitting to create a large fish (over 2m long!) which will swim along and join the display.

Extreme knitting to scale

Anticipating the possibility of bad weather on a recent trip to Scotland I took my extreme needles and some yarn with me in case I was stuck indoors for a while.  Actually the weather wasn't so bad but I managed to fit in some extreme knitting anyway.  I had some yarn left over from a previous project - I think it might have been from those big jerseys from the Knit a Bike Installation.  Anyway I soon ran out of that!  However a quick trip round the charity shops for wool blankets and the local household store for some dye yielded positive results ...

Starting with a cream wool blanket

Nice bright coloured dyes

Add to the washing machine

Excellent results

 
Having got some lovely colours I decided to have a pink stripe in my fish and as I'd already started with yellow I decided to continue in that colour.  I cut up my blankets to form more yarn - 1.6kg of yellow and 900g of pink and then I was ready to carry on.

More yarn ready for extreme knitting

After all that I needed a break - did they know about my fishy theme?
 

A well deserved break - coffee and a chocolate fish!

When I returned home I just needed to make an eye ...

Finger knitted fish eye with pompom pupil

Now it just needs stabilising and it'll be ready for display - but that's a job for another day!

If you want to join in with our #FantasyFish project, details of the workshops are here.  If you can't make the workshops you can find Fantasy Fish knitting patterns here.  We would be very pleased to receive #fishfromafar as well as close by! 

Extreme Knitting Continues with a Giant White Poppy

Extreme knitting in progress - and now I have proper end stoppers on my needles thanks to Andy!

You may know that extreme knitting is a hobby of mine.  And you may also know that I've already knitted a giant red poppy.  Well - now I've also knitted a giant white poppy.  It's 1m in diameter and it took 1.36 kg of yarn made from cut up white sheets (which took a very long time to cut up!!). 

890g ball & 470g ball of extreme yarn - it took both balls!

More facts - the black centre is aproximately 27cm across and was finger knitted using 45m of super chunky, 45m of chunky and 90m of double knitting.  The finished finger knitting was then coiled in a spiral, stitched together and stitched onto the centre of the poppy.  My poppy also has 8 pompoms surrounding the centre for a bit of extra excitement!

Even more facts - if you're wondering about the needles they are 1.9m long and 50mm wide.  They are quite impressive even if I say so myself!  After knitting my giant red poppy I had some proper end stoppers put on as all the stitches kept falling off the ends.  Thanks, Andy!

Giant white poppy

 
"What is this poppy for?" I hear you ask.  It's going to be part of the Poppies in the Park Yarnstorming Installation of course.  There's one more workshop left if you want to come along:

Tuesday 2 June 2015 – Rowntree Park Café  Rowntree Park, Richardson Street, York, YO23 1JU 
14:00 – 16:00

It's a drop in workshop and all materials are provided

The Poppies in the Park installation goes up in Rowntree Park on Thursday 11 June (by the tennis courts, near the cafe) and will be on display until after the Rowntree Park Birthday Party on Sunday 12 July 2015. Keep looking - it'll be there soon!

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!

A Giant Poppy - More Extreme Knitting

Giant Poppy - detail

It's that time of year when we begin to think about poppies, symbols of remembrance and hope, especially as this year is the 100th anniversary of Britain entering into World War 1.  

I have been knitting a giant poppy on my extreme needles (1.9m long and 50mm in diameter).  As always with the extreme needles I find out something new every time I use them!  I used Lynn's Easy Ribbed Knit Pattern for the petals which I found on the web.  (This pattern is one suggested as part of Australia's 5000 Poppies project - a community tribute of respect and remembrance commemorating the Anzac Gallipoli landing.  Follow the link if you want to join in with that project)

Improvised end stopper

Back to the mechanics of it all - first challenge with such whopping needles, is finding some suitable yarn.  I used an old double duvet cover and pillowcases which I dyed red in the washing machine and then cut up into 6.5cm wide strips (2.5 inches) which I knotted together to form a ball of yarn.  Next,  I cast on my stitches - 60 in this case.  I haven't had so many stitches on my extreme needles before - and they stretched across the whole needle - and promptly fell off the other end!  So I improvised some end stoppers by wrapping some of my big yarn left over from other projects (e.g. the big jerseys in the Knit a Bike Installation in Rowntree Park earlier this year) on the bottom of both needles.  That worked a treat!

Yarn just about to run out!

It was rather tricky to guess whether I would have enough yarn from my duvet cover and pillowcases to finish my poppy.  And yes  - you guessed it - I ran out.  Fortunately I had a sheet waiting in the wings which I dyed and cut up to finish the job.  All in all my giant poppy used up about 175 metres of yarn. Next, I sewed up the poppy with my extra large sewing needle which is almost 20 cm (8 inches) long ...

So here we are - poppy petals complete.  They are about 90cm in diameter (3 feet) ...

Giant poppy petals complete!

Now it was time to create the centre.  I decided on finger knittng for this with some black super chunky, 2 lots of eyelash yarn and some double knitting yarn.  2.7 metres later with all the super chunky used up (200g) and about half the eyelash yarn (50g - 2 x 25g) and a fair bit of DK yarn, it was ready.  Once coiled up and stitched together, the slightly fluffy centre was approx. 30cm (12 inches) in diameter.

2.7 metres of finger knitting

Finger knitting coiled up to make the poppy centre

Now it was just a case of stitching the centre in place on the poppy. Et voilà ...

Giant knitted poppy in the garden

I'm hoping to use my poppy in a project next year - watch this space .....