Tree Leaves & the Fairfax Court Yarnstormers

The Fairfax Court Forest

The Fairfax Court Yarnstormers have made a fantastic contribution to the Tree Leaves Yarnstorm Installation.  I called in to join them for their knit and natter session recently and collected several large bags of trees and leaves that they had been busy knitting (and stitching!)

Jean Elliott, Hazel Laws, Edna Shilletoe, Doreen Feetenby

The table was groaning under the weight of the urban forest they had created!

Jean Marshall, Marjorie Winn, Ann Driffield

Jose, who urges the group on in their community knitting endeavours, wasn't there when I visited but she had knitted hundreds of leaves (literally!).

Jose Smith

A fabulous forest... 

Thank you so much ladies -  I can't wait to see all your hard work on display!

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.

Tree Leaves at Rowntree Park Cafe #2

Fab trees and leaves from the Rowntree Park Cafe workshop

Our final #TreeLeaves workshop took place during the York Festival of Ideas in Rowntree Park Cafe.  We had a great turnout and it was also an opportunity to pick up some of the trees and leaves that had been left for the project.

Our youngest participant...

made this super tree...

 Everyone was very busy, chatting, knitting & stitching...

making fantastic trees and leaves as you can see from the pic at the start.  Anna had the idea to applique some owls on her trees...

Anna's trees with applique owls

and Gina added buttons and ribbon to her topiary tree...

Gina's topiary tree with buttons and ribbon

and what a fab stitched leaf from Angie....

Angie's leaf

Also we had deliveries of leaves from Denise...

Denise's leaves

and Sylvia...

Sylvia's leaves

 
and trees and leaves from Anna...

Anna's trees & leaves

and trees from Alyson...

Alyson's trees

Aren't they all great! Thanks to everyone for joining in and thanks to Rowntree Park Cafe for looking after us! 

And you still have time to join in.  Finished trees and leaves have to be with Rowntree Park Cafe or the Trafalgar Bay pub by Saturday 22 June 2019. Full details here.

The Tree Leaves Yarnstorm goes up in Rowntree Park on Wednesday 24 July 2019 (weather permitting) and will be up until the end of August.  Sales of the trees in aid of the Woodland Trust will take place in September - more details on that later.