Tuesday 4 September 2012

The Birds are coming!

I'm so excited to announce that the Bird Yarns project is coming to Edinburgh!

The project is an interesting one, involving many crafters from all over the UK (and a few from further afield!), knitted Arctic Terns and Textile Artist Deirdre Nelson.

Arctic Tern
My knitted birdie!


Bird Yarns is organised by An Tobar's Artist-in-Residence Deirdre Nelson (An Tobar being the arts centre in Tobermory on the isle of Mull), supported by Cape Farewell and is intended to highlight the plight of these little birds. The exhibition is a response to the changing migration patterns of seabirds across Scotland’s islands.

A flock of Arctic Terns will descend upon the Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, 26th-27th September 2012 - I can't wait to see them all!

They're knitted with locally-sourced, beautiful natural undyed wool from Ardalanish (also on Mull) and recycled materials - my tern has a thick felt beak, legs which I French knitted and reinforced with coated red wire, also used to make its little webbed feet. I then stuffed my knitted bird body with recycled wool scraps from my other knitting projects to keep it eco-friendly.

A little birdy told me (pardon the pun, I couldn't help it...) that there are now kits available too if you want to have a go at knitting your own! [Ravelry link]



3 comments:

UK Discounts and Coupons said...

This bird is cute. I like the red webbed feet.

Unknown said...

Hi, Do you know where I could get a copy of the pattern please of the Arctic Tern please? Thank you
Claire Price

Cat McLaughlin said...

Hi Claire, if you contact Deirdre Nelson, she'll be able to give you more information: info@deirdre_nelson.com - hope that helps!