Do your bit – knit!

With early August marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, local communities are being encouraged to contribute thousands of hand-made textile poppies for a large-scale commemorative WW1 installation.   

During World War 1, one of the ways women at home showed their patriotism and “did their bit” to support the troops overseas was by knitting - making gloves, scarves, balaclavas and particularly socks for the soldiers.

Organisers of Wonderwool Wales are keen to galvanise the support of local people to recreate the united determination of these home knitters. So they are encouraging individuals, groups and schools to knit commemorative poppies for a massive textile installation to mark the centenary of the end of the war in 2018.

All the poppies will be strung together into a 'Curtain of Poppies' and the intention is that it will include 887,858 textile poppies, to commemorate each person from the UK who died serving their country. The curtain will be put on display at Wonderwool Wales 2018, the annual showcase for wool and natural fibres which is being held at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells on April 28 and 29, 2018.

Anyone can join in and send a poppy and for those who don’t knit, poppies can also be crocheted, woven or sewn from felt. Organiser Jane Veevers said: “Every poppy we receive takes us one step further towards our goal, so please get busy with those knitting needles – or if you prefer, use one of our alternative patterns!”

Volunteers are invited to use a range of patterns to make one or more textile poppies to feature in the Curtain of Poppies in 2018. Patterns are available on the Wonderwool Wales website.

To find out more and to find the patterns for the textile poppies visit www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk/show-events/curtain-of-poppies.html