Shaun the Sheep’s PicKnit Challenge at

ICHF Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts Show, Exeter

Matt and Julia Hopson of Cornish Organic Wool arranged, with the Cornish Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers to turn an organic fleece into a knitted picnic blanket over the period of the show.  The finished blanket would then be donated to Aardman Animation's Picknit.

All the wool had to be carded and spun and then plied in order to be then knitted into squares which were then sewn together to make a blanket. Under Audrey Durrant (Secretary of the CGSWD) and her partner, Bob, the guild members managed to card spin and ply enough wool to be knitted into the blanket over the period of the show. They made time to explain to children and adults all about the history and the process involved in spinning. Knitters from Penzance came up to lend their knitting support (including Frances Jago who is known as probably the fastest knitter in the UK today). By the end of Sunday a blanket with garter stitch border was being sewn up by Julia with Frances still knitting the border as it was being attached to the blanket!

The blanket was finished just in time and will be exhibited with the completed PicKnit (including a life-size knitted Shaun the Sheep in the midst of the knitted mayhem) at the ICHF Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts shows in Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009.

Julia, who is also the Guinness World Record holder for the largest knitting needles in the world, also demonstrated her world record and gave many onlookers the chance to have a go - including Christine Kingdom (from CK Media) and Rachel John (Extreme Knitting – famous for knitting with 1,000 strands of yarn) who successfully had ago using many yarns at the same time.

Launching National Knitting Week 2007

Launched in 2005 by GMC’s Knitting magazine, National Knitting Week gives knitters all over the country the chance to celebrate and promote this hugely
popular pastime. This year’s National Knitting Week (13th-21th October) is set to be the biggest yet, with events all over the country for knitters of all ages
and levels, and the perfect opportunity for curious non-knitters to give it a go. Having experienced something of a revival in recent years, thanks in part to celebrity knitters affording the hobby unprecedented media exposure, knitting continues to make the news on a regular basis. Knitting for charity is the latest craze, with stories of people using their skills with needles and yarn to raise money for their chosen cause being reported regularly in the regional papers. Harry Potter fans are also getting in on the act, with patterns for Potter-esque scarves and sweaters popping up all over the internet, and even entire web
forums devoted to the role of knitting in the books and films. And if you thought knitting was just for girls, think again! While 2006 was the year that ‘Stitch n Bitch’ groups brought the hobby to younger generation of female knitters, the guys are jumping on the bandwagon in 2007, championed by high-profile male knitters such as Gerard and Craig of I Knit, who even run a regular ‘guys only’ knitting evening at their London shop. Knitting is also making waves in the fashion world this season, with ‘chunky knits’ being a firm favourite on the catwalk – proving once again that knitting is most definitely not just for grannies!

Click here for details of all the National Knitting Week events, including how to set up your own, are available on the National Knitting Week website

Shaun the Sheep’s PicKnit Challenge

Be part of this great community knitting project

To help celebrate Shaun’s return to the small screen, Aardman Animations are working together with the UK Hand Knitting Association, Future Publishing's Simply Knitting magazine and ICHF (International Craft and Hobby Fairs) to organise ‘Shaun the Sheep’s Picknit Challenge’

Calling all knitters to get involved in this national knitting challenge to knit Shaun a life-size picnic feast.

* Come along and have some fun - if you're not a knitter then come to natter.
* A chance to team up with like-minded knitters and get involved in a nationwide community project.
* Learn to knit for the first time -there'll be plenty of knitters happy to show you how easy it is.
* An excuse to enjoy a picnic and knit together over the summer.
* Everyone that knits something towards the PicKnit will see their work exhibited across the UK at craft shows with a life-size Shaun the Sheep in the midst of the knitted mayhem.

Let your imagination run wild and re-create your favourite picnic memories; sunshiny days with beach balls and ice-creams or kites, rugs, flasks of tea, cakes and wind-breaks. If you can see it on a picnic you can knit it!

Click here for a list of suggestions of what you can knit

Click here for our Shaun The Sheep page packed full of information

The completed picnic scene with a life-size knitted Shaun the Sheep in the midst of the knitted mayhem will be exhibited at the ICHF Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts shows in Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009

Name Change For The BHKC

The British Hand Knitting Confederation is changing its name with immediate effect, to the UK Hand Knitting Association. Updating the name of the knitting trade association is more in keeping with its fresh, contemporary approach to the art and craft of hand knitting and is also in line with its website www.ukhandknitting.com

Dedicated to the promotion of hand knitting and crochet, the association has grown and developed since appointing CK Media to run the press office in 2001. At that time knitting was in need of a boost and the initial campaign generated a lot of media coverage on celebrities that had been spotted clicking away.  Deemed the new yoga, knitting gained rapidly in popularity, shaking off the old pre-conceptions and highlighting the growing throng of young boys and girls who saw knitting as a sociable, stress-busting hobby. Groups such as Cast Off sprang up and media coverage gathered further momentum as knitters started meeting in pubs and clubs and even London’s central line became the hip place to knit and pass on skills to fellow passengers.

The UK Hand Knitting Association has supported numerous ground breaking initiatives in recent years including Knit2Tog at the Crafts Council which attracted record numbers (15,000+ visitors to the exhibition), Craft Rocks at the V&A and Art and Crafts at Tate Modern.  All highly successful at conveying the message that knitting was hot news. The association continues to build on this momentum, spreading the energy and enthusiasm beyond the capital by passing on skills at consumer craft shows throughout the country and actively encouraging new knitting groups that continue to mushroom and flourish. Most recently this initiative has been extended to lunch time and after school clubs.

Over the past 6 years the website has grown ten fold and is continuously updated, receiving around 5,500 monthly hits.

As a joint venture between the UK Hand Knitting Association and the Craft Yarn Council of America, the speed knitting challenge was initially launched as a contest between the Brits and the Americans but has now grown into an international challenge with 2 Guinness speed records for knitting and crochet recently achieved.

The highly successful Knitted Textile Student Awards, initiated by the UK Hand Knitting Association and co-sponsored by GMC Publication’s Knitting magazine in association with Creative Exhibitions, showcases the diversity and relevance of knitting in the 21st century, dispelling stereotypes with dynamic, innovative design.

National Knitting Week launched in 2005 by Knitting magazine and co-sponsored by the UK Hand knitting Association is now in it’s 3rd year and has resulted in around 200 major knitting events during that October week each year. This year's week, 13th – 21st October is set to be the best ever.

Further ground breaking initiatives include the life size Knitted Garden which was a joint venture with ICHF exhibitions, Future Publishing’s Simply Knitting magazine and the UK Hand Knitting Association. This community project on a national scale has attracted terrific media attention from the outset as well as engaging hundreds of people who have contributed with knitted flowers, paving, ponds and frogs – not to mention a deckchair and a picnic!

Knitting is therapeutic and fun and the UK Hand Knitting Association continue their packed programme of new initiatives that celebrate, elevate and enhance the status of knitting in all its guises.  There is a lot to be said for being creative with a pair of knitting needles!