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Marjorie Waye (right) helped other members to get started
weaving and Adelheid Jenkins (left) delivered the finished cushions to
Woolsack. Photo courtesy of Martina Müller.
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A Buckinghamshire Guild member with two donations: knit cushion
on left and handspun, felted cushion on right. Photo courtesy of Martina
Müller.
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The Woolsack booth at Fibre East were athletes could select
their cushions in person. Photo courtesy of Martina Müller.
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What an
exciting year for London! With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Summer
Olympics occurring in the same year, the United Kingdom is burgeoning with
special events. While culminating with Olympics, the
London 2012
Cultural Olympiad has been underway since 2008 and is dubbed the largest
cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympics. Fiber artists
across the UK have, of course, joined in the fun. The
Buckinghamshire Guild
of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers helped to make handmade cushions of British
wool for Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They learned about the cushion
project through the
Association of
Guilds of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers, and
Woolsack, a knitting and crochet guild that
started the project. Bucks Guild member Marjorie Waye has a weaving studio and offered
the use of two looms for guild members to weave fabric for cushions. One loom
was warped in tartan and the other in white, all using British wool. Guild
member Martina Müller was excited that "even non-weavers were able to
have a go, and in fact, we had three people who gave up their first ever piece
of weaving for the Olympics!" You can see pictures of the weavers at work
on the guild's
Facebook
page. In the end, the guild had about forty woven, knitted, felted, and
crochet cushions to donate after its February cushion-stuffing party.
Athletes
continue to connect with Woolsack to select their cushions. Word about the
project has spread through social media, word of mouth, and coverage on BBC TV
and Radio 4. Some athletes even visited the Woolsack booth at Fibre East,
a fiber festival in Bedford, England. I wonder if any athletes were inspired to
learn to spin!
Looking
for British wool? The Woolsack website has an excellent list of Stockists to set your heart racing.