Letitia Thompson - Little Paintings from a Small Village

Just Then (detail)- Letitia Thompson

You have still time to catch Letitia Thompson's exhibition, on at the Ropewalk in Barton-upon-Humber (just near the Humber Bridge - which is also worth a visit!)

Here's a little taster of what to expect just to whet your appetite - enjoy the colours, textures and characters.  On until Sunday 31 May 2015 - go see!

Yellow Field Hare - Letitia Thompson

Letitia says, "I never plan what, or who, I am going to paint, and so it is always a surprise to see what story wishes to be told.  Anyone is welcome to appear on my canvas though, from the Queen of the May to the cheeky sparrow!"

Little Boat House - Letitia Thompson

Black Bird, Blue Hill- Letitia Thompson

Quiet Finale - Letitia Thompson

And while you're there don't forget to take a look in the Craft Gallery, try the cafe, see the Ropewalk Museum, the Sculpture Garden and take in the other exhibitions!

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!

Poppies in the Park go to Tesco

Today was our first workshop in Voluntary Arts Week and we were celebrating getting creative in the Community Room at the Tesco Store, Tadcaster Road, York.
  

We had a representative join us from the Acomb Craft Group.  Remember the lovely things they did for the first yarnstorming event in Rowntree Park.  Doreen managed to get both felted and knitted poppies made! (So did Heather - how speedy is that!)

Sue took up the challenge of big knitting and now both big knit red and white poppies only have one petal to go.  Hope there will be someone to complete them at our next workshop.

Big knit poppies only need one more petal

This is the only venue where we have been able to offer felt making and it was great to see people having a go.  We had some lovely felt poppies at the end ...

Felted poppies

There were some great knitted and stitched poppies made too...

Knitted & stitched poppies

And a special thank you to Helen and Sam for the 38 poppies they brought with them for the project as well as the knitted and stitched poppies they made today...

Knitted poppies that Helen & Sam brought

All these poppies in the park are going to look great!

The final workshop is at Rowntree Park Cafe on Tuesday 2 June 2015 from 14:00 to 16:00.  Come & join in!

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

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!

Craft & Design Month May 2015

It's May - so it must be Craft and Design Month! And I'd like to thank Craft & Design for featuring Poppies in the Park in their current issue.

Craft & Design Month is a celebration of British craft.  In this amazing month of creativity there are loads of craft events going on across Britain.  You can find details about them here.  Go take a look - there might be something that's right up your street (literally!)