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Community projects


This is our new page for Community Arts Projects. If you are involved in a local project and would like to let other knitters know, please send details, logos and images and we'll do the rest

Click on images to view full size


Eden Arts: Help To Knit 'The Woollen Woods' Cumbria" update April

Made by Amy Scroggie
Made by the Knitting & Crochet Guild
Made by Lynne Mott, Jean Sturgess & Sheila Cunnea
Made byDorothy Potts, Rosie Kolodziejczyk & Angela Mehlert

Hundreds of woollen artworks have gone on display at National Trust property Acorn Bank in Cumbria, as part of Eden Arts’ CANOPY art project. ‘TheWoollen Woods’ exhibit is one of a series of artworks being displayed in trees and woodland across the Eden Valley in Cumbria and is open to the public until 3rd November. All the exhibits have been made using 100% wool, in support of ‘The Campaign for Wool’. The project began in January when the public were invited to take part by making artworks for the exhibition and has since sparked international interest. The Woollen Woods features work submitted by artists, schools, groups and individuals from throughout the UK and beyond, including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany and America. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to take a walk through the enchanting Woollen Woods and spot a wonderful variety of woollen artworks, from knitted bird nests, needle felt squirrels to crochet spider webs!

The project is being run in collaboration with The Wool Clip craft co-operative, who have created a unique ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed tree for the exhibition. The Wool Clip and Eden Arts have also been working with local community groups and members of the public, teaching wool craft techniques and creating work for the exhibition. Eden Arts are inviting people to add to the exhibition throughout 2013 and potentially touring it during 2014, so it’s not too late to get involved! Lots of artwork ideas and free patterns are available on the project website, along with the entry form.

Click here to find out more about the Canopy project and here for patterns


Voluntary Arts Week: 11-19 May: Join A Nationwide CraftBomb

 

Voluntary Arts Week takes place from  Saturday 11 – Sunday 19 May 2013, and is a chance for amateur arts and crafts groups across the UK & Republic of Ireland to celebrate their activity and encourage others to join in. For Voluntary Arts Week 2013, we’re coordinating a mammoth ‘CraftBomb’ in partnership with local crafters, artists, arts and crafts groups and community groups.

On Saturday 11 May, the Voluntary Arts Week CraftBomb will transform buildings, parks and gardens across the UK & Republic of Ireland into a riot of colourful craftwork.

The idea behind the CraftBomb is that crafters come together in their community to add a splash of colour to school railings, park benches, window boxes – anything you can hang a pom pom on or wrap some crochet round. The possibilities are endless.

Click here for further information and to download the Craftbomb pack


'Heartsease': "Little heart bags - made by people like you, with big hearts, to encourage and delight children at Kids Company"

Update February

Click here for dedicated Facebook page (see below for full details of project)


Eden Arts: 'CANOPY' an exhibition in trees & woodland Spring/Summer 2013 (February 13)

At Eden Arts we are currently running a project called CANOPY, which will result in an exhibition in trees & woodland across the Eden district in Cumbria in Spring/Summer 2013.

THE WOOLLEN WOODS: As part of the project we hope to transform the woodland of National Trust property Acorn Bank with thousands of woollen artworks (in support of the Campaign for Wool). We have been encouraging people to make and submit woodland themed woollen artworks for the exhibition. We have had some fabulous artworks submitted so far but we still need many more.

We are appealing to artists, craftspeople, school and groups to contribute to the exhibition – anyone can join in! The exhibition should get a lot of media and press coverage, which will in turn raise the awareness of the Campaign for Wool and the creators of the artworks.

Anyone who submits artwork by end March will be added to the exhibition ‘Roll of Honour’. We can put a photo of the artwork(s) on our Facebook pages, along with a link to your website if you have one. We will still accept and display artworks after exhibition opens on 6th April.

Click here for artwork ideas on our Woollen Woods Pinterest page and FREE patterns and a submission form on our project website

(This project follows on from our 2011/12 ‘Join the FLOCK’ wool project)


'Heartsease': "Little heart bags - made by people like you, with big hearts, to encourage and delight children at Kids Company"

Ruth and Belinda have dreamed of a way that knitters and makers can extend care to children they have never met by sending them special heart shaped bags; these can be keepers of hope and safety in the form of words, pictures of small treasures.

Kids Company provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children. Their services reach 17,000 children across London, including the most deprived and at risk whose parents are unable to care for them due to their own practical and emotional challenges.

Join them at the ICHF shows where, with help from the UKHKA team, you can be part of this huge project, or send them directly to Ruth and Belinda.

Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts (Event City, Trafford Centre, Manchester) 7th - 9th February 2013
Embroidery, Stitch and Hobbycrafts (NEC, Birmingham) 21st to 24th March 2013
Creative Stitches, Fashion & Hobbycrafts (Excel, London) 4th - 6th April 2013

Click here for details of pattern, where to send and what to use

Click here for details of how you can volunteer to help at the shows


Hyperbolic Crocheted Reef and Woolly Underwater Wonderland: Bristol (January 13)

Paper Village in Bedminster Bristol is launching a new unfunded community project to make a hyperbolic crochet reef and swarms of fish and other sea creatures. The reef will be crocheted, knitted and needlefelted

We will have some patterns available that you can use – you will receive a free Paper Village designed pattern in return for making some fish, sea creatures, weed, sea anenomes, urchins or coral for the project. There will be some free sessions that you can turn up to learn the techniques and have fun with other people contributing to the reef. You will need to bring your own wool and hook or needles to the free session.

During May we will build a reef and hang all the fish, weed and creatures in the shop as an installation to be shown during the Southbank Arts Trail and for some time afterwards. You can eventually have back any of your contributions and at this point we will decide what happens next!

Free sessions are being held: 16th,22nd,23rd Feb, 4th,8th,9th,23rd March, 13th April

Click here to find out how you can take part


Shaun the Sheep PomPom Parade: December 12

 

The Shaun the Sheep PomPom Parade is a baa-rilliant new people’s project to raise awareness and support for His Royal Highness Prince Charles’ Campaign for Wool in which anyone and everyone can participate. The project is a collaborative effort between leading wool interiors retailer The Wool Room, Aardmans woolly ambassador Shaun the Sheep and Eden Arts brilliant Join the Flock project of 2012.

The aim is to set a new world record for the largest flock of handmade wool pompom sheep that the world has ever seen! To achieve this we are inviting people of all ages and all locations worldwide to make pompom sheep and post them in. If you already know how to make one you can start right away, if your memory is a little rusty or you’ve never made a pompom before you can download our handy how-to kit from the webpage. The kit also includes fun sheep face and leg templates that you can cut out and attach to your pompoms to give them ewenique sheep personalities, and make sure they stand out from the rest of the pompom flock.

The Shaun the Sheep PomPom Parade has taken it’s influence from an Eden Arts project called Join the Flock, which managed to collect over 5,000 pompom sheep from members of the public which were then exhibited around Cumbria this summer. With their help and support we are proud to be extending this awe inspiring project and breathe new life into a wonderfully woolly creative project.

The challenge will close in March 2013 when the entire flock will be paraded for visitors in London at a venue to be confirmed

Click here to find out how you can be part of this exciting world record challenge

Click here to join the facebook page to access baa-rilliant competitions as well as to submit your very own pompom sheep photos for other shepherds to see!


Eden Project Cornwall: Knitting Tree Cosies For Tree Ferns: October 2012

   

Carla Wentink / Pollination & Guide Team: "We are knitting Tree Cosies, for our Tree Ferns, with our visitors. This is happening most afternoons in the Mediterranean biome. Our tree ferns would die in winter if not wrapped up. Our gardeners normally use horticultural fleece for this, but knowing I am an occasional yarn bomber they asked me to knit a cosy for the tree ferns. I’m delighted, but it being a big job I am asking help of visitors. My idea is that each tree is to have a cosy in one (or very similar) colour (s), and that I embroider some text on to it in a contrast colour.
The project is to have promote knitting, and to have conversations about knitting and other textile crafts, sustainable yarn choices, community spirit, guerrilla knitting, tree ferns (of course) and the new Eden ‘HOW2’."

Click here to contact Carla if you would like to take part, but are unable to travel to Eden. Your knitting needs to be of about 70cm width, and as long (max 5 feet) as you like. Text can be added when received at Eden.

Address: Eden Project, Bodelva, PL24 2S, Cornwall


The “Knitted Breast ” Community Project , Dorset: September 2012

The Breastfeeding Support Service at Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust (DHUFT) has created a new and unusual project across the whole of Dorset.

The team teaches breastfeeding to health professionals as well as new mothers both in the antenatal period and after they have had their babies, as part of the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) which is a UNICEF project aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates both in hospital and in the community. Research highlights many health benefits for both mother and baby in the short- and long-term and that breastfeeding rates in the UK need to be increased and so improve the health of the nation as well as save money on hospital admission..

One of the teaching aids they use is a “knitted breast ”. The team needs a lot of these so that they can teach midwives, health visitors and students how to teach mothers to breastfeed. Contact was made with Pauline Stanley, a well-known local artist who created “The Knitted Garden” which toured the UK recently. Pauline has created and led many community projects and was enthusiastic about sharing her skills in a joint community initiative with the BF team.

Local knitting groups will be asked to join the project and knitting yarn companies may be contacted to see if they will donate any wool, the brighter colours the better! The Project will be a novel way to include the community in helping raise breastfeeding awareness in a fun yet dedicated way and could courage breastfeeding mothers to get involved in community activity also, so reducing isolation and encouraging community involvement. The plans are to extend this project across the whole of Dorset as we work towards Dorset being a UNICEF Baby Friendly area. We hope this will be the start of a community wide breastfeeding project and look forward to other innovations in the near future. Other areas have used the knitted breasts to teach GCSE students about the health benefits of breastfeeding, as these are the next generation of breast feeders

Click here to request information about how you can take part
Click here for pattern
Click here for Pauline's blog


 

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