TAPESTRY
during the Covid pandemic national lockdown; many people were looking for something to fill the long evenings and keep their hands busy! The Somewhere Else community was no exception.
We started a ‘Click and Connect’ group and the knitters and crocheters shared their creations on WhatsApp, recognising that this was a great way to stay connected, pick up or learn new skills and help allay deep feelings of isolation.
The idea of making a commemorative tapestry came a couple of months later. “If we asked people to make squares we could sew them all together and hang it in the entrance to Somewhere Else when we met up again in the summer/autumn.” “Maybe ‘COVID – 19’ could be used as an acronym to give out a message of hope?” Such creativity and excitement… and at each stage of the process!
The tapestry was finally installed during Holy Week 2021, ready and waiting to be ‘officially’ unveiled! What did it take? Wool for 112 crocheted or knitted 6” squares, an old pair of jeans, some brightly coloured thread, a length of curtain tape, some wood and screws, lots of love and care… et voilà!
Thanks to all those who took part in delivering our message of hope:
C Christ
O Overcomes
V Virtual
I Isolation
D Despair
We do hope you will come and visit once we are open again! Meantime, enjoy the photos!
Heather (April 2021)
TWIDDLE MUFFS
UPDATE 22/10/2020
A further 10 twiddle muffs were delivered to Beechcroft nursing home on the Wirral for their residents. Thanks to Heather's neighbour for organising this.
The community of SWE was asked by a nurse at Aintree hospital, if the group could Twiddle Muffs for Dementia patients on one of the wards that she works. Twiddle muffs help to calm the patients as they have something to do with their hands.
During the crisis of the pandemic, the ward where the nurse works was used as a full covid ward, which meant that all the twiddle muffs they had were disposed off. This was to ensure that the ward was throughly clean.
It has since been returned to a "white safe" ward, so the patients were in need of twiddle muffs again. The nurses are replenishing the twiddle muffs out of their own pockets.
Some of our knitters rose to the challenge and have produced 9 so far. We are thankful that the knitters of SWE can support such a worthy cause.
Click. Why CLICK?
Our Senior Steward, Andrew Lovelady, wrote this short "poem" which explains...
Christ's
Love
In
Connected
Knitting.
Each knitter or crocheter was asked to remember that "You are sharing your love for others with each stitch."
Thanks to all our knitters and crocheters, we have received over 300 squares (30th July, 2020). 91 of them are going to be sewn into a tapestry, which will have the word COVID 19 appliqued onto it. This will help to commemorate this time.
Each letter of covid is an acrostic for:
Christ
Overcomes
Virtual
Isolation
Despair
The rest of the squares will be sewn together to make scarves for the winter to distribute to the homeless of Liverpool.
Oh my goodness! We just had a delivery of 40 knitted and crocheted squares for our project.
We are so grateful for everyone who has sent in squares so far. This parcel didn't have a note in it, so we don't know who it's from. If it was you, then send us a private message or email Somewhere Else.
You have just a couple of weeks to get any more squares in for us. We will be stopping on the 1st of July 2020, so we can put them all together. That will be a long, but exciting, process given how many we've got!
Happy knitting and crocheting everyone!
From Laura, OPP - 13th June, 2020.
CROCHET VIDEOS
Simple Granny Square:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npIsh-o9AM0