Our Knit and Natter Group were one of several groups that were asked to take part in a yarn bombing event at The Alnwick Garden. If you’ve not come across yarn bombing before, it involves decorating somewhere, (such as a public space) with items made of yarn. I’ve seen several of these before, with knitted and crocheted items decorating trees, fences and iron railings, post boxes, statues, even a bicycle and a boat!. This is the first time I’ve taken part in anything like this before – I’ve really been looking forward to the project, especially in such lovely surroundings.
A few weeks back four of us visited the garden and chose this wooded area beyond the Rose Garden as the focus for our decorations. Members of our group have been making items for the project for a while but we were inspired with even more ideas once we knew the space we’d be using. Other parts of the garden are ablaze with colourful flowers at this time of year but the shady trees and the bright green foliage or our adopted patch provided a perfect backdrop for the colourful items we made. Last week we were back to install our work, with the support of one of the staff who has organised the event. Some other parts of the garden had already been decorated as we saw on on our way to our chosen site. The items had been made by other groups and also ndividuals, who have been leaving items for the staff to use for the decorations. We got to work….here are are the fruits of our labours!
The smaller trees were hung with brightly coloured twists and the trunks wrapped with striped crochet “scarves”.
Other items were hung up too.
We draped a garland of hearts on another tree and wrapped more around a large trunk.
Crocheted banners and strings of bunting were wrapped around other trees.
A butterfly was fixed to the bark of one of the trees, along with a flower garland.
More floral chains were added.
Finally, this “Knit and Natter” banner (made by A) was fixed to a large tree near the path.
With our work complete, those of us able to stay found a table in a quiet spot near the cafe and had a well-earned cuppa. Free of the constraints of our usual Zoom meetings, we nattered until the Garden was ready to close. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon!
The yarn bombing installation will remain at The Alnwick Garden for the next few weeks.
Have you ever taken part in a yarn bombing event? I’d love to hear more about it.
Stitches by the Sea 