Yarn bombing

Construction work
Construction work

We’ll we’ve finally done it. We’ve knitted, crocheted, stitched and encouraged each other and today we put up our yarn bomb. Apart from the very obvious joy of working with wool and seeing our work coming to life, it was a fantastic

More construction
More construction

opportunity to spend a couple of hours as a team building something really great. It was all hands to the wool and needles and even while we were stitching the final bits together there was some pom pom making, sewing in of ends and some very careful design advice being given.

It really is a joy to be part of something so absorbing and so

The finished project
The finished project

creative. For those of us who are new to knitting or crochet it has been a great opportunity to learn something new that fills our lunch hours. We’ve often attracted a crowd, keen to see how it’s done and we’ve encouraged and bribed members of staff to take part (once pompommed they pretty quickly come back for more).
What a fantastic testament to team work and creativity.

The glorious pom pom ceiling
The glorious pom pom ceiling

Clothes peg and pom pom fairy

 

Just as we thought – knitting is good for your wellbeing

It's going to be a wooly Christmas
It’s going to be a wooly Christmas

We’ve been working hard on a project for the department. It began with a small number of us knitting and crocheting just to get us away from our computers. Over the months we have been joined by keen new knitters, shy knitters, some crochet fans and, interestingly, a number of staff who come and sit and join in – without wool or needles. Those of us who knit or crochet know how relaxing it is, how wonderful it feels to be away from our desks, wool and needle/s in hand either concentrating on our work or chatting about wools, projects, even the news occasionally. What we hadn’t thought about was how relaxing it is to watch. The simple act of putting yarn around hook, watching something grow as if by magic from a ball of wool, is comforting, reassuring, all those things perhaps that we associate with the people in our lives who knit or crochet. This is, in most cases, mothers, grandmothers, aunts etc, who taught us knit or who made us jumpers or blankets that were sometimes a bit terrible but nonetheless, were made with love.

Our project for this term is nearly ready to go and we can’t wait to see it all together.

What began as an experiment has become a way of life for lunchtime in the department.

This says almost exactly the same thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/25/knitting-crocheting-jam-making-improve-mental-health-study-finds/

Welcome

by Vanessa Bell (ne eStephen), oil on board, 1912
Virginia Woolf Knitting – by Vanessa Bell (nee Stephen), oil on board, 1912

Virginia Woolf once said that knitting saves lives. We’re not looking to save lives with our project but we are encouraging staff to leave their desks for an hour at lunch time, pick up needles or a crochet hook and some wool.  The benefits of both time away from a desk and collaborative, communal projects is well documented. It may not remove all the stresses and strains of day to day life but it requires you to think of the thing in hand – literally.