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. Red squirrels in Belper parks woodPart 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.Flower Woollen Woods 2016 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.Birds made from squares

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.Belper Map

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.  mushroom in the Woollen Woods

Family Games

Family games are something we enjoy over the Christmas and New Year period. However it can be difficult to find suitable family games that can be played by all family members ranging from 7 to 90. I have found a few successful ones so I thought I would share them here. Although Christmas is over we always play games at Birthdays and often on a Sunday afternoon after lunch. Most of these games only need some paper and pencils so are easy to transport for holidays as well. Continue reading Family Games

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

Dickens at Tissington Hall

Tissington Hall was built in 1609 by Francis FitzHerbert and is still lived in by the FitzHerbert family. The Hall is in the centre of the small village of Tissington just four miles north of Ashbourne. The Tissington Hall is only open to the public twenty eight days a year and is well worth a visit. This Christmas it is being opened with a difference as the hall has been transformed into a Dickensian wonderland. Continue reading Dickens at Tissington Hall

Candlelit Vigil

A candlelit vigil is going to take place in Belper organised by Transition Belper. This is to mark the Paris Environmental talks. I am planning to go and organise an activity in Number 28 on Belper Market place. I feel that this is an issue that everyone needs to think about as what we do now will affect our children and grandchildren. Continue reading Candlelit Vigil

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

Mini Beast Hunt

I recently installed a mini beast hunt at Ripley Market Place in Derbyshire. I have organised and been involved with a number of Yarn Bombing installations since 2012. My most recent request was to do something for an event called AmberFest for Amber Valley Borough Council. The council were planning a new Community Showcase to be held in Ripley Market Place on Saturday 18th July 2015. Continue reading Mini Beast Hunt

Abbey Gardens

On a recent visit to the Isles of Scilly I visited the amazing Abbey Gardens on the Island of Tresco. The last time I went there was about thirty years ago. I have been to Tresco more recently but not back to the Abbey Gardens and so I was filled with wonder once again at all the fantastic plants. It is a bit like the tropical gardens at Kew without needing to be in a greenhouse.Abbey Gardens TrescoThe gardens were created by Augustus Smith who came to live on Tresco in 1834 as the new Lord Protector of all the Isles of Scilly. The history of the Abbey Gardens can be found HERE. Four succeeding generations of the Smith family continued to improve the gardens, to make them a sub-tropical paradise which is well worth a visit. The Abbey Gardens section on the Tresco website will give you all the information required for an enjoyable day out. Continue reading Abbey Gardens