Special K

I'm talking about the 11th letter of our alphabet and not the breakfast cereal aimed at skinny-Minis!

At the end of March last year, we began clapping for carers and the enormity of the work undertaken by all NHS staff, in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, was beginning to become apparent.  Three yarn shop owners in East London decided to make a big banner of thanks to NHS workers.  Anna from Wild And Woolly, Maya from Knit With Attitude and Barley of creative hub Fabrications used social media to generate support.  These ladies know there's strength in unity and operate as the East London Yarn Triangle.  It's not their first banner either so makers from near and far answered their call.  Knitters, crocheters and weavers got in touch to contribute a letter from a pre-planned grid of words reading:

East London Knitters Say Thank You To All The NHS Workers

Now I'm not an East London Knitter but like to think of myself as an honorary one!  

Both my daughters live in London and Google maps helpfully informs me that Eilidh's flat is 10 minutes from Knit With Attitude in Stoke Newington, 15 minutes from Wild And Woolly in Hackney and 20 minutes from Fabrications in Broadway Market!  With my self-proclaimed East London Knitter credentials in place, I asked to contribute to the banner and was allocated letter 'K'.

Homemade rainbows were beginning to appear everywhere in the first weeks of lockdown as a symbol of hope and to cheer people up.  This pebble appeared on my elderly Mum's doorstep in our village, left by a thoughtful local child.

I knew I wanted to create my own knitted rainbow as my contribution to the banner.

The advantage of an extensive yarn stash is that there's no shortage of materials when an idea strikes.

Stipulations were few - a light letter on a dark background and some guidance on dimensions.  Measuring bunny was on hand to ensure the guidelines were met.

Our own creativity could then take over.  The upright leg of the 'K' was a straightforward column of stocking stitch stripes.  Mirroring the stripy rainbow, I increased and decreased my row count to create the letter shape.

After sewing the rainbow letter onto the blue background, I crocheted a wee sun in sparkly, golden yellow and knitted a cloud of fluffy, boucle alpaca.  I'm generally an optimistic kind of person so I gave my cloud a silver lining after delving into my slightly fankled collection of embroidery threads.  I'm not afraid to admit that the early months of the first lockdown had made me feel quite anxious.  With my husband, Geoff, still working offshore, and both girls in London, I spent a lot of this time home alone and was grateful to immerse myself in knitting and other creative pursuits.

The iridescent thread was another surprise find in the embroidery stash tangle.  I've no memory of when I bought it or what I bought it for, but it was ideal for a raindrop shower falling from my silver-lined cloud.

All that remained was for me to package up my knitted contribution and post it off.  I sent Wild And Woolly's Anna, Knit with Attitude's Maya and Fabrication's Barley my yarn lovers correspondence card designed by my daughter, Eilidh, to say thanks for organising this fun, but meaningful, collaborative project. 

 

By November the work of hand sewing the letters together had been completed and the finished banner was proudly hanging from two giant knitting needles in the window of Fabrications in Broadway Market.  I saw photos on Instagram and felt very proud of my special 'K' in the second last line.

Photos used with kind permission of Barley Massey of Fabrications

The banner gracing the window of Wild And Woolly in Clapton

I can't get to London just now to see the banner for myself so I asked Anna of Wild and Woolly if I could share her words from her latest newsletter.  Happily, she agreed.

"The passers by look and see the message knitted into the banner.  They don't know about the dozens of knitters or the sewer-togetherers or Barley's beautiful finishing, but I think they almost do.  I see them look again and see a knitted version of the clapping, saucepan banging, ululating and cheering that we used to do on our doorsteps on Thursday evenings. The thoughts, fears, losses and rages of the knitters who made them are all there in the stitches of the rectangles that carry the letters that hold the message from us all that says thank you and I think the passers by see that too.  I hope that one day soon the nurses and cleaners and junior doctors and receptionists and consultants and radiographers and porters and cooks and sisters and midwives will see it too, as the banner moves onto its final home at the hospital*."

So it's not just the 'K' that's special, 

it's all the letters,

and the banner,

and the makers,

and especially the meaning 

and the heartfelt sentiment behind it.

* At the time of writing it is hoped the banner will find its forever home at the

Homerton University Hospital in the London Borough of Hackney.