Latest news with #knitting
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Knitted postbox toppers take over Isle of Wight museum
A group of knitters have yarn bombed a postal museum to raise money for an Alzheimer's Isle of Wight Postal Museum in Newport, Isle of Wight, lent their collection of 260 postboxes to the Women's Institute to display their knitted postbox Reeder, who owns the museum filled with his personal collection, came up with the idea two years ago when he met some postbox topper creators. He said: "I'm not normally left speechless but having seen what some of these ladies have done, I am speechless and anyone who knows me knows how serious an issue that is." Event organiser Debbie Hall had hoped for 80 postbox toppers and was surprised to be able to cover nearly 90 of Mr Reeder's said it was a chance for people to show off their said: "There are a lot of postbox toppers on the Isle of Wight and where are they all?"They must be in cupboards and boxes and attics, and it was my job to locate them." Some of the designs included Noah's Ark, The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover and a prisoner that was originally mounted outside a event was free to enter and raised money for the Alzheimer's Café by taking voluntary Rippon knitted the charity's logo of faceless figures in a boat. It was made especially for the event and mounted upon one of the oval shaped London postboxes, of which there are none on the Island. Mr Reeder's collection began when he rescued a wooden postbox from the station at Rhyl in Wales when on holiday and restored it. He has postboxes from Inverness to Truro and there are a few from overseas including the Republic of Ireland, the US and Gibraltar. You can follow BBC Hampshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Fashion's future stars: Student designers create playful, sustainable collections
What does a cake or ice-cream sweater look like? How do knitting and baking connect? The answer lies in a playful collection called The Proof is in the Pudding by Joey Fanciulli, one of the 15 NCAD fashion students who will graduate this year. Fanciulli combined a love of baking and memories of the decorative elements of making desserts with his mother and grandmother to 'bake' a collection. Others in this very talented student group bring their own individuality and preoccupations to their work, often informed by family circumstances or heritage. Greta Giardini, who is also a trapeze artist, rendered her collection of wired red shapes based on blood, calling it a dance between blood and motion, 'blurring the lines between fashion, performance and emotional artistic expression'. Tadhg James Geraghty has used his struggles with gender identity for a collection whose warped silhouettes and deliberately incorrect pattern placement are designed to express warring emotions through cloth. Struggles with identity are also to the fore for Ulviye Jarral, whose multicultural background is expressed in a striking collection of shirting used in dramatic ways. A bell sleeve jacket made entirely in raffia was a standout item in Elspeth Moloney's collection, paying homage to the women in her life, which features handwork traditionally associated with women, such as crochet, embroidery, smocking and tulle. Family references were also evident in Juliet Webster's work honouring her west of Ireland ancestry, and in that of Clodagh Leavy who was inspired by her grandmother, the artist Anna Marie Leavy. Leavy has just won the River Island bursary of €3,500 and a three month internship at company's design studio in London. READ MORE Elsewhere, dramatic evening wear and veiling based on the legend of Hag's Head characterised the collection of Clare native Michael McInerney, while Phoebe Halwax deftly combined lingerie with sportswear. D Connor Petrin's collection focused on the elegance of dressage, and others on concepts that ranged from contraception to Chinese whispers. Notable was the use of boning, leatherwork, corsetry and voluminous silhouettes. Joey Fanciulli: The Proof is in the Pudding Tadhg James Geraghty: Gender Trouble Ulviye Jarral: 'A striking collection of shirting used in dramatic ways' Clodagh Leavy was inspired by her grandmother, the artist Anna Marie Leavy This group stood out in their diverse conceptual and storytelling ideas, but also in their craftsmanship expressed in so many ways. The core of the Fashion Design programme at NCAD is rooted in Ireland's textile and craft legacies, encouraged by tutors Natalie B Coleman, Linda Byrne and head of department Angela O'Kelly. [ Campus couture: NCAD fashion students root collections in autobiography Opens in new window ] 'Through an ethos of thinking through making, we cultivate designers who challenge conventions' is part of their mission statement. Elsbeth Maloney Juliet Webster Phoebe Halwax: Off Court NCAD images photographed by Sean Jackson; hair by Leonard Daly; make-up by Colette Lacy; models from Ros Model Management. The NCAD show is on from Friday, June 5th to Saturday, June 14th. Emer Glendon (LSAD): Tidebound In LSAD in Limerick, 36 fashion students will graduate in June from the new BA course, whose joint programme leaders are Alan Kelly and Linda Quinn. This will be the first graduating year under this new programme and the students will present their collections under four 'pathways' – Collection Design, Applied Textiles, Technology and Sustainability. [ Five fashionable women on their failsafe outfits for summer Opens in new window ] The students responded to the pathways in various ways in their work. Erin Urquhart used deadstock yarn for a collection called The Red Thread, a tribute to her mother. Erin Urquhart: The Red Thread Peter Ronan's six looks drew from Paleolithic cave art with an emphasis on surface detail. Both Emer Glendon's digitally and physically produced Tidebound, and Roisin Scales's My Native Shores, looked to home – to hard-wearing fishermen's clothes and ropes in the case of Glendon, and in Scales's collection, hand-knitted cardigans made from linen and Irish wool emphasised zero waste and sustainability, offering alternatives to a fast fashion world. Photographs of LSAD students by Deborah McDonagh. The LSAD graduates opening show takes place on Saturday, May 31st in the Clare Street Campus, Limerick.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Cape Breton business, organizations prepare for possible postal strike
Social Sharing Cape Breton businesses and organizations are getting ready in the event of a Canada Post strike that could start Friday morning. Tracy Stubbard, owner of Tracy's Rolling Yarn Shop in Sydney, N.S., said she doesn't do a lot of online sales, but she does use the mail system to deliver knitting supplies to a number of customers. "I usually try to squish as much into a flat-rate box as I can, but I mean, if it's just one skein, it's kind of hard to justify paying $30 for the skein and $17 to ship, so I unravel and squish it into an envelope so it gets shipped like a letter," she said. Stubbard runs a mobile business taking supplies to customers across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and sets up at the cruise terminal when a ship is in. She also just opened a shop on Charlotte Street and said there are plenty of cruise passengers who want to buy quality hand-dyed yarns featuring local colours, such as the Nova Scotia and Cape Breton tartans, and have it mailed home to save on luggage space. Stubbard said she spends about $2,000 a year on shipping through the Canada Post outlet in Dominion, where she lives, and she's hoping there won't be a strike. Strike possible Friday "The ladies that work at the post office in Dominion have been very kind to me since I started my business and I hate to see them be without a job," Stubbard said. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), representing about 55,000 employees, has said members could walk off the job Friday unless the union sees movement on demands that include better pay and details around weekend work, among other things. Canada Post presented CUPW with a new offer this week, but union officials have asked for time to review the details. Stubbard occasionally used private courier services during the 32-day strike last winter, but she said it cost more and meant driving from Dominion into Sydney. She will do that again, but hopes it won't be necessary. "It's definitely an inconvenience. It's just so easy to go through Canada Post," Stubbard said. A postal strike will also affect the Cape Breton Regional Library, said librarian Lisa Mulak. The library has an online program that anyone in Nova Scotia can access to borrow a book or other item. With the second-largest collection in the province, the Cape Breton library mails out about 7,000 pieces a month, mostly on the mainland outside Halifax. If there's a strike, that service will be suspended, Mulak said. Postal service 'excellent,' librarian says Canada Post offers libraries a discounted book rate to help make materials available to smaller communities that don't have a library or for people who can't otherwise get to a library branch in person. Mulak said the Cape Breton library has a great relationship with the postal service. "It's been an excellent service for us and we're hopeful that things are resolved quickly," she said. Cape Breton Regional Municipality still sends and receives cheques through the mail and uses the mail system for other administrative tasks, including sending out tax and water utility bills. "It's definitely a challenge when the postal system is not working," said spokesperson Christina Lamey. CBRM's water bills for some customers will be affected right away, because the municipal website is not yet set up for online billing and payments. Others may not be affected until their billing cycle comes around in the coming months. Lamey said if there's a strike, residents are being urged to contact 311, either on the website or by phone, to get their water bill and information on how to pay it.
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Wimborne: forget-me-not display created for dementia action week
More than 9,000 knitted forget-me-nots have been created to raise awareness of dementia action from across the UK have taken part in the project, knitting and crocheting handmade woollen flowers, which now adorn the Museum of East Dorset in Hollow, director of the museum, said: "It really is something that is making a lot of people stop and pay attention."The flowers have been posted from as far away as Glasgow and Lancashire, many with notes about how they were knitted in memory of a lost loved one who grew up in Wimborne. Ms Hollow said: "There's so much personal connection people have with dementia, it's really impactful."We are so proud of the many dementia-friendly initiatives we run here at the museum and in the community."Sally Palmer works in the tea room in the museum and has volunteered there in some capacity for 13 said she approached people while they were having their coffee to ask if they knitted or crocheted."If they said yes I shoved a pattern in front of them and said 'would you like to knit some for me?'" she said. "It really worked. People were taking their patterns away and getting their friends and getting their knitting groups and social groups involved and that's how we got a lot more."Ms Palmer has also knitted delightful dementia teddies as part of the blue and white flowers have become synonymous with the Alzheimer's Society. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
CTV News
17-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Handmade gifts from Gravelbourg, Sask. make their way to Buckingham Palace
Gifts from Gravelbourg, Sask., including Mariette Anderson's knitting, made their way to Buckingham Palace. (Mick Favel / CTV News)
