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.

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.