Knitters are invited to a poppy-thon to help commemorate Remembrance Day.
A group of local knitters recently spearheaded a community art project that involves knitting or crocheting poppies that will be placed onto a large blanket and displayed at a venue in New West. Susan Robson of Cosy Yarns in River Market learned about the initiative through a recent article in the Record and decided to host a poppy-thon
“If anybody wants to pop down, that would be great,” Robson said about the event taking place on several days this week. “Anybody can come at any time, as long as they are a knitter and they can knit and purl, and cast on, cast off. They have to be able to do that. If they need a little bit of help just getting started I am fine with that.”
Knitters (and crocheters) must bring their own knitting needles or crochet hooks. Cosy Yarn will provide the poppy pattern and has some yarn that people can use.
“We have yarn here or they can bring their own,” Robson said. “I have a limited quantity (of red), so if we run out they’ll have to start bringing their own. We have a huge ball of green for the centre piece and some black scraps.”
Robson hopes knitters will help the Poppy Project make up to 500 poppies for the blanket. People are invited to attend poppy-thon gatherings at Cosy Yarns (on the second floor of River Market at 810 Quayside Dr.) on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from noon to 8 p.m.; Thursday, Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday, Nov. 8 from noon to 7 p.m.
“They can just drop in,” Robson said. “They can knit in the studio or they can knit at the tables outside in the community square.”
Robson said the poppies are about three inches across and include a green centre and tiny black flecks.
“It took me probably half an hour, three-quarters of an hour by the time you finish doing the little fiddly stuff like the centrepiece,” she said. “The actual poppy itself takes about half-an-hour, I would say.”
Reena Meijer Drees and a group of local knitters launched the Poppy Project after hearing about a similar project in Australian, where knitters made 300,000 handmade poppies and created an installation that was displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, England in May. They estimate it takes about 10 poppies to cover a square foot, so 500 poppies would create a five-by-10-foot blanket.
The size of the final product depends on the number of poppies donated to the Poppy Project, but Meijer Drees would love it to be big enough to be displayed in Anvil Centre.
