It's windy and wet again, so those jumpers inching towards the bottom of the wardrobe are back to the top of the pile. Ahead of the trend in woollens is the Great British Sheep, child of I Knit London, the city's shop and sanctuary for knitters. It is a project by our friends to promote UK sheep, wool and handknitting.
Its first outing was at the Alternative Village Fete, part of the National Theatre's outdoor season Watch This Space. Old, young, male, female, trendy and not trendy types grabbed bags of yarn, a seat and did a few rows of stitches at the I Knit London stall. It was a beautiful sight among the vegetable sculptures, handmade cakes and cute duck hooking - see it all on the Alternative Village Fete Flickr set.
The sheep's specially designed wire frame looked cold despite the clement weather. The aim is to reverse shear the sheep by collecting knitted contributions from the public, stitching all into a big woolly British handknitted fleece. All wools donated are British and can be traced back to the actual breed and breeder. Any kind of knitted contribution is welcome - it will indeed be a very technicolour, multi-textured treat by the end of its tour to various festivals. We expect an absolutely enormous addition to the fleece during the I Knit London day scheduled for 6 September in London.
Keep those hands busy while you wait out the rain this summer; get your knitting needles out and help the Great British Sheep! Click away to get more information on the Great British Sheep and I Knit London, including I Knit London Day.
