CLICKING AND CONNECTING

TAPESTRY

This time last year we had just gone into 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!

Well, we are just coming out of lockdown #3. Very few of us have been across the threshold of 96 Bold Street, for more than 12 months…

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 have been 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.

C.L.I.C.K.

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."

November 2020

Here is the finished blanket, awaiting a frame, so that it can be hung in Somewhere Else when we return to the building.

A fabulous team effort.

Past posts about the C.L.I.C.K. project

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.

CALLING ALL KNITTERS AND CROCHETERS!

(And those keen to learn a new skill during lock-down!)

We have something super exciting for you to get involved in. If you like to knit or crochet then pick up those needles and hooks - we'd love you to start making some 6 inch squares for our community project "Click and Connect"!

It is a great way to keep occupied at home, making something creative, having a sense of achievement and productivity whilst staying connected as a community!

We will be putting these squares together (and possibly adding some applique later on) to make a banner/quilt to commemorate this time and the strength we have had to get through this together. Any squares we have left over we will make into small blankets for the homeless community.

So get your needles "clicking" and "connect" with others. Check out some squares that Heather (knitter) and Laura (crocheter) have already done.

We want you to be as creative as you like! You can choose any pattern you want (there are some simple ones below to get you started), any stitch that you like and any colours you prefer! Rainbow, stripes, half and half, chequered - anything goes!

Need a head start? We've done the hard work for you! We've put together some simple patterns for you to try out as well as the number of stitches and rows to get a 6" square (or as close as possible!) Remember that your tension might differ from ours so have a tape measure handy and check size by folding one corner up to the needle so the sides are flush and forms a double triangle.

For knitting:

Double Knitting wool

1) Size 8 needles - 35 stitches. Work about 62 rows in garter stitch (all knit).

2) Size 9 needles - 38 stitches, about 58 rows in garter stitch.

3) Size 9 needles; start from 1 stitch and increase every other row until you have 51 stitches on the needle, then decrease every other row back down to 1 stitch and cast off!

For crochet:

Double Knitting wool

1) Size 4mm hook - simple granny square. Start with a chain of 5, join with slip stitch. Chain 3 to get up to height of first round. Do groups of 3 treble crochet into centre circle with chain 3 in between each group for the corners. On subsequent rounds, groups of 3 treble crochet into the gaps of the round below, chain one in between groups of treble crochet on the sides and continue to chain 3 for the corners. Make sure to do 2 groups of 3 treble crochet in each corner. 6 rounds in total.

2) Size 4mm hook - solid granny square. First round the same as simple granny square (see above). Chain 3 to get up to next round. Do a treble crochet into the top of each treble crochet stitch in the round below. Two treble crochet in the corner, chain 3 and then another 2 treble crochet in the same corner. (Rounds should increase by 4 treble crochet stitches on the sides each time.) 6 rounds in total.

This is a lot of information, we know! But don't worry, just save this post for later reference or (even easier) all of this info will be on our website - www.somewhere-else.org.uk . We will also be putting up links to some YouTube instructional videos for those who want to learn how to knit or crochet and want to get involved!

When you have finished a few squares, don't join them up - just leave them loose as they are and send them in the post to us!

For the postal address to send your squares, please email Laura at lburtonopp@outlook.com .

We hope you have fun creating something as a community! Happy knitting everyone!

Thanks,

Laura (OPP) - One Programme Participant

If you need some help to get started,

then the following video links are useful.

KNITTING VIDEOS

Cast On:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vm6oaYzHyA

Knit Stitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egp4NRhlMDg