Thanks to generous funding from the National Lottery Community Fund as part of their Platinum Jubilee Celebration, our very own Westhouses Knit and Natter group got the chance to travel across the border to Leicestershire to visit the village of Cosby, home of the yearly 'Yarn Bomb!'. Greater Creative working party member and keen Knit and Natterer Pam picks up the story of the day...
The group were all very excited to be going on a trip (the first outing we have had with a large number of the group). We didn’t know exactly what to expect – one or two had had a sneaky peak on the website to see what was in store but even that didn’t prepare us for the actual display close up!
As soon as we arrived we marvelled at the sight in front of us – shops, houses and large buildings were adorned with colourful displays of what looked like an underwater theme. There were fish, mermaids, frogs, underwater divers and much, much more, you couldn’t take it all in.
Over lunch we had a brief chat with one of the ladies who first started the Cosby yarn bombing group and she was very informative about how they first got together, from just a few people to now 60 knitters/crocheters, most of who meet twice a week!
We all had a wonderful day and also go to enjoy a fabulous lunch while were we there, the group were buzzing about what they had seen all the way home and it certainly got them thinking about what we could achieve in our village, even if on a smaller scale. (Cosby is quite a bit bigger than us!)
After speaking with some of the group afterwards here are some of their reflections of the day. One of our younger members had this to say:
I thought it was wonderful, very colourful and pretty. I liked the milkshake cow and the elephants, they were so big, but the parts I really liked were where someone had put a board up with different knitted colours showing us about global warming and how different the temperatures were now compared to a few years ago. It showed the effect on our planet and was very detailed and had lots of information. Hopefully people will see it and realise what damage is being done. Another knitted piece was where they had covered over an old scrap yard type garden. The old tractor engine and other machine parts were still there and obviously meant a lot to the local people as they hadn’t moved it, but they had covered the fence with old jumpers and scarves and other pre-knitted things to recycle them to show what the yard had been used for.
Other member’s comments:
Fab day, great company and a lovely place to visit – I will be going back again.
It’s got me thinking of what we could do in Westhouses….
Happy day spent looking at creative works to inspire us with our own displays. Loved it. Many Imaginative ideas. Thank you
I LOVED IT – thank you so much - when are we going out again?
From all of our group we would like to thank Greater Creative and the funders for enabling us to have a trip out and special thanks also to Rachel Scanlon [Artist] for organising it for us – it really was a great day out, enjoyed by all who went.