It is just a week now until the Woollen Woods happen in Belper Parks Wood. It has been fantastic this year that more people have joined in the fun of making pieces for the woods. A few days ago I had a bit of a panic wondering how long it would take to put everything up. However having put an appeal on Facebook lots have responded with offers of help. Now the thing I am worrying about is the weather. Last year it was lovely and warm and the sun shone the whole time. I am not concerned about the knitted and crocheted pieces as I know from experience they survive very well but more concerned for the fingers of the installers if its cold! Continue reading Woollen Woods
Category: Making
Belper Arts Festival
Belper Arts Festival is now in its fourth year and promises to be the best yet. There are so many exciting things planned for the town. The Festival which includes Belper Music Festival lasts for the whole month of May 2016. The Woollen Woods is part of Belper Arts Festival and will be installed in The Parks woodland on May 6-7th and taken down on May 15th.
It is fantastic that this year Woollen Woods will be up for longer and has even more people joining in to make things. There is still time for more knitters, crocheters and felters to take part and details can be found HERE or contact me on Facebook Anne Clark Handmade. Today I have been in the woods with some of the animals taking photographs and being filmed for the Belper Arts Festival trailer. Here is a good map of the area and the Woollen Woods will be in the area of Ladywell Park and Great Parks Wood. The map shows walks through the woods and tells you about the bluebells. Once again we will have a three foot bluebell as part of the Woollen Woods. Continue reading Belper Arts Festival
What If Machine
This year I was once again part of a team making one section of a ‘What If Machine’ in Derby Silk Mill Museum. To explain, a ‘What If Machine’ is a machine along the lines of Rube Goldberg or Heath Robinson. Its the sort of machine that finds a long and complicated way to achieve a simple task. The task we had to achieve last Saturday was to unroll a banner saying ‘WE MADE IT HAPPEN Continue reading What If Machine
Woollen Woods 2016
Calling all Yarn Bombers, knitters, crocheters and those who work with felt, you are needed to help with the Woollen Woods 2016. Once again the magic will return to the Belper Parks Wood during Voluntary Arts Week and Belper Arts Festival. The woods will be inhabited by woollen creatures and vegetation created by knitters, crocheters and felt artists both local and from further afield. Red squirrels will return and be joined by foxes, hedgehogs, owls, moles, toads and insects of all varieties. 
Part of the woods will be transformed into the seaside and I am looking for fish, octopuses, shells, seagulls, seaweed, pebbles etc. Some trees will be decorated to tell a story and individuals or groups are very welcome to adopt a tree.
Flowers of all varieties will fill the woods and amongst the bluebells there will be one that is three feet high. Woollen Woods 2016 are springing up all over the British Isles and this year Belper Parks Wood has been chosen by Voluntary Arts to be their flagship event for the Midlands. We are looking for people who would like to be part of this event.
You do not need to be an expert knitter or crocheter. Squares can be used to wrap around trees or be turned into flying birds with the addition of felt wings.
The important thing is to enjoy making. The size of the finished pieces is not important. The event starts on Friday May 6th (Craft Bomb Day) when a couple of the trees will be craft bombed as a taster for what is to come.
The main event will start on Saturday May 7th with the installation of the rest of the pieces which will remain in the woods until May 15th. The woods can be accessed from the Coppice Car Park off the Market Place, from halfway up Mill Lane, The Fleet or the end of Alder Road.
Many items can be seen around the area of the Poetry stone not far from the Mill Lane entrance. I would like to have things for Woollen Woods 2016 by April 23rd. Please contact me for details either by leaving a comment on this blog or messaging me on my Facebook page. Last year was a great success and a lot of fun so I am hoping more people will become part of this years event. 
Belper’s Christmas Yarn Bomb
Everything has been installed in the Memorial garden for Belper’s Christmas Yarn Bomb. It was a very cold task on Saturday and my fingers keep refusing to move. It does look good however and I hope all the knitters and crocheters feel proud of their work. I have already observed families, with children running round the garden looking for the different Christmas characters. Continue reading Belper’s Christmas Yarn Bomb
Climate Change
Is Climate change something we need to worry about? If so is there anything we can do about it? We live in a beautiful world and I’m sure we would all like to keep it this way.
Climate change has been mentioned a lot in the news recently because of COP21 (the 21st Conference of the Parties). This is the annual meeting of world leaders for the UN talks on climate change and sustainable development. This year it is to take place in Paris. The conference is crucial because it is hoped that the outcome will be a new international agreement on how to tackle global warming. It has been agreed for some time that it is important to keep global warming below 2% and we are already half way to this figure at 1%. Here is a good article in The Independent. Continue reading Climate Change
Christmas Yarnbomb
When I first wrote about the Christmas Yarnbomb for the Memorial Garden in Belper it was good to find people who were willing to help. After my first post about the Christmas Yarnbomb I received comments and offers of help both on this blog and on my Facebook page.
Things then went a little quiet and I was hoping that this was because knitting needles and crochet hooks were busy. I started to knit some jumpers for trees and hoped that others would make things to be sewn onto these. Continue reading Christmas Yarnbomb
Memorial Garden, Belper
Belper Memorial Garden is located at the top of King Street. It was originally given to the people of Belper by one of the Strutt family. The war memorial stands in the garden which also has beautiful flower beds, trees and several park benches. I visited this afternoon and there were family groups enjoying picnics and children playing on the grass.
The purpose of my visit was to start planning a Christmas Yarn Bomb of the Memorial Garden. Continue reading Memorial Garden, Belper
Belper Parks Wood
It doesn’t seem possible that it is already a week since we had to take down all the lovely woolly things in Belper Parks Wood. They had been in the woods for the Woollen Woods 2015. When you are busy time passes quickly!
The Woollen Woods in Belper Parks wood was part of Corridor Arts, ‘Here and There’ Art Walk. It was also part of Belper’s Art Festival in May 2015. There were so many amazing things going on in the town suitable for all sorts of tastes and age groups. Continue reading Belper Parks Wood
Pom Pom Ladybirds
I have written the instructions for pom pom ladybirds. At the moment life is really busy with getting everything ready for the woollen woods and ‘Here and There’. My grandchildren wanted to join in. We decided to make as many pom pom ladybirds as we could, so that we can make a ladybird tree. Continue reading Pom Pom Ladybirds