Newcastle knitter takes her craft to new heights

Jun 21 2009 by Katy Simpson, Sunday Sun

"A KNITTER from Newcastle will be taking her craft to new heights atop Trafalgar Square’s empty plinth.

Knitting and crochet tutor Anne Makepeace, 51, from Gosforth, has travelled from Scotland to Sussex giving wool workshops.

But she has never taken her passion anywhere as exciting as the square’s fourth plinth, where she is heading next month as part of Anthony Gormley’s One and Other project.

The Angel of the North creator is enabling different people to make the plinth their own, every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break.

And Anne is one of the 2400 people who will climb up to the space normally reserved for Kings and Generals, but which is being handed over instead to people of all walks of life.

The mum-of-two is planning to spend her hour of fame showing people how much fun knitting can be, surrounded by woolly flowers.

She is appealing for people to knit flowers for her to take on to the plinth, which will later be sold for charity.

Anne is the second North East participant to be revealed as taking part in the human artwork project in London.

More than 200 people from the region applied to take part. Northumberland student Helen Pringle from Allendale will be celebrating her 20th birthday with her appearance on the plinth.

Each of the participants have been chosen at random by computer from thousands of entrants.

They are allowed to do anything they want, as long as it is within the law, from entertaining the tourists below to educating people about a message of importance to them. Anne said: "I applied because I thought it was a chance to do something different.

"It’s supposed to be a representation of people all around the UK, so I thought it would be good to take my knitting up there, as people often think knitting is just for grannies, and it’s not at all.

"I will never get an opportunity like that to show off what I can do, and show that knitting is fun. My favourite thing is to knit is socks, but you wouldn’t be able to see what I’m doing. It’s got to be something big, bold and bright that can be seen from below, so I’m going to do a big scarf.

"I’m hoping to get friends from around the world to knit me flowers to take up there. I’d appreciate any donations from anyone who would like to get involved."

Anne will take up her place on the plinth on July 26 at 5pm.

Among the tourists in Trafalgar Square, there will also be Anne’s husband Andrew, daughter Sarah, 13, son Euan, 21, and their grandparents.

Anne said: "It’s going to be a big family day out. Because of the workshops I do, I’m quite used to knitting in front of people.

"But with is being a Sunday in the summer, I suspect it’s not going to be quiet.

"It’s one of those things you don’t think you’ll ever get. It’s quite high and I’m actually not that good with heights.

"I was quite pleased that somebody from Newcastle got picked because everyone knows the Angel of the North."

Donations of knitted flowers should be sent to Anne via her business address at 58 Low Friar Street, Newcastle, NE1 5UE."

Wendy celebrates 110 years with new yarns...

We have mentioned these new wools previously, but now they are available at our online store, we feel they are well worth flagging up!

There's a prediction for the coming season, the prediction is BIG! The coming trend for big and chunky knitwear is no more pronounced than at Wendy, where they have introduced two new yarns in honour of their 110th birthday, including Viva - a super chunky knitted on 10mm needles.

Viva is a roving yarn with 8 subtly printed colours including Lipstick (shown), Vanilla, Skylight, Crocus, Delph, Lichen, Cranberry and Cinders. The yarn has a super soft feel, ideal for cosy winter wear or just to take the chill off a summer evening out. The yarn has a 20% wool content and over at Knit and Sew is retailing for just £3.39 per 100g ball - a real steal!



The second yarn just introduced by Wendy is Skye - a double knit tweed yarn, made from a blend of mohair, acrylic and polyester. Again, there are 8 colours to choose from: Birch, Hazel, Willow, Blue Spruce (shown), Chestnut, Mahogany, Violet and Scree. Cardigans and waistcoats are tipped to be winners this coming season, and with light-weight, easy to knit yarns such as Viva and Skye - start knitting and get ahead of the trend!

At just £2.33 at our online store, Skye will prove to very popular. There are pattern leaflets and books to support both yarns too - these will be available on our site any day now from £2.25 each, so check back regularly to find them online.

New Patterns due in stock July 1st

A wide range of NEW Sirdar patterns is due in stock on July 1st.

With the introduction of new yarns such as Crofter Chunky, Nomad and Persia Sirdar have also designed a range of exciting new patterns to go with these and existing wool ranges.

There are also additions to may other ranges including Snuggly Baby Bamboo, Snuggly Snowflake DK and Chunky, Crofter DK, Big Softie and more!

Many of these ranges have had new wool shades introduced too, so make sure you check out our site to see everything!

You may browse some of these patterns online already, but if you do order, there will be a little wait until they arrive next month.

Exciting NEW yarns now in!

Knit and Sew is proud to announce the arrival of lots and lots of new exciting yarns for 2009-10!

Sirdar has introduced several new lines to its already huge range of wools.

NEW yarns include Persia and Nomad - beautifully soft cuddly yarns for winter warmth and softness.

The ever-popular Click range has added exciting new shades which are multi-coloured - this is across the chunky, DK and aran ranges.

In Sublime, a new range is Luxurious Woolly Merino - a gorgeous 96% merino yarn, and Extra Fine Merino Wool 4ply which is 100% merino. There are several new colours in existing ranges as well... for more information click here!

More news on our new wools later! Much more to report on the new stock...

NEW - Wendy Wools Now In!

Now in stock Wendy Skye and Viva...


Skye - a new tweed DK yarn from Wendy in mohair, polyester and acrylic, in eight appealing colours - the added mohair gives a unique surface appearance.

50 gram ball, approx 120 metres, tension 22sts - 29 rows, 4mm needles.

Patterns 5488-5496 and book 329.



Viva - a super chunky yarn, knitting on 10mm needles, perfect for the predicted big chunky fashion trend next season. In eight subtly printed colours, Viva has a soft feel and is made up of 20% wool, 10% nylon and 70% acrylic.

100 gram ball, approx 80 metres, tension 10sts - 14 rows, 10mm needles.

Patterns 5480-5487 and book 328.