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| BIG KNIT AT PERTHSHIRE AMBER FESTIVAL |
| Posted By: admin |
 Dougie MacLean’s Perthshire Amber Festival is hoping to make its annual Big Knit an even bigger success and is looking for knitters across the world to get their needles out and send in squares to raise funds for the Shelter Blanket, which last year raised more than £2000 for Shelter Scotland. The idea for the Big Knit began in 2007. Following the sad death of Dougie's father, we realised that his mother, Dolly MacLean, had a huge range of skills (and a little more time than previously) and co-opted her into this new way of raising some awareness of and funds for Perthshire Amber charity projects. The first "Harvest Blanket" was made up of coloured squares knitted by festival-goers during the 10 days, these were then sorted, sewn together and edged by Dolly. The "Big Knit" was born and has proved a great success.and lots of fun for all! In 2009 we raised over £2,000 for Shelter Scotland through the Shelter Blanket auction and a 'silent' auction of beautiful articles knitted by Dolly MacLean as well as a batik and an original painting donated for the cause! For knitters who want to get involved and can’t come to the festival, all they have to do is to get hold of some Artesano wool and knit a six inch square in one of the approved blanket colours, then send it off to the Festival. They can also send in a photograph of them with their square in a typical local setting. Send an email to admin@butterstone.com to let us know what colour you are knitting and keep an eye on the website in case we have a need for particular colours. Full instructions for the square are available on the website: www.perthshireamber.com Jenny MacLean, Director of Perthshire Amber Festival says: “The squares will be incorporated into the blanket... or if we get lots we'll have more blankets to auction! Nothing will be wasted. “We are all quite excited about the idea of people knitting all over the world to contribute to our blanket...so have a go, and let us know!” Tom Coomber from Artesano wools, who are again sponsoring the wool for the knitters at the festival said: “We are very pleased to sponsor this worthwhile project and look forward to seeing our yarn knitted up in such a variety of colours” Last year Linda and Anna from Maldon, who had both been at the festival and joined the Big Knit in previous years, were unable to make it to the Festival. Undaunted they decided to contribute from afar. Linda says “We did our knitting with Dougie's DVD playing in the background to get us in the mood. It has been great fun joining in the Big Knit this year. The past two years we were able to participate in person and it's been great being able to "join in" from afar this year. For further information and additional photographs, please contact Elaine Bruce on 07940 160153. Photocaption: Dolly MacLean with the 2009 Shelter Blanket How to knit your big knit square What wool to order. ARTESANO DK 100% Pure Superfine Alpaca 50gr What colours to choose from. 1. C743- Fern 2. 0178- Peru 3. 8774- Ecuador 4. 5340- Brazil 5. 1532- Chile 6. 4345- Venezuela 7. SFN33- Cocoa 8. SFN24- Demerara Dimension of square. 6 inch square. Size of needles. 4mm (UK 8 or USA 6) Dolly says that her square is 58 rows x 30 stitches, but that could vary according to your tension. It's the final size that counts... 6 inches x 6 inches!! Type of Knitting Garter stitch ('knit' every row). "Garter stitch is another name for plain knitting stitch. Knitting something in garter stitch also means to knit every row in plain knitting (i.e. no purl knitting). It forms ridges on alternate rows." Where to send your squares. The Big Knit attn. Dolly MacLean The Old Schoolhouse Butterstone Perthshire PH8 0HA SCOTLAND |