Record-breaking knitting!
The Devon County Show went for a knitting world record this year with their colourful knitted bunting – and they smashed it!
Earlier this year, the Devon County Show set itself a target: to beat the current world record for a length of knitted bunting, and to display the bunting at the show itself in May. Unfortunately, the show itself had to be cancelled, but the pile of bunting just kept growing, and growing…
GRAND AMBITIONS
“A lot of people said we couldn’t do it, but I knew we could!” laughs Deborah Custance Baker, chief steward for crafts and gardens at the annual event. And she should know – all 79,001 knitted flags were sent to her house! After the original stringing event at Exeter cathedral was cancelled, she personally finished o the entire 14.28km of bunting ready to be measured. The current record is a mere 7.5km, and at the time of writing everything has been sent o to Guinness World Records, so the show is waiting to hear back that they’ve o cially set a new record.
STRESS RELIEVER
You might be thinking that the recent lockdown was responsible for the record breaking attempt, with many people staying home with much more time on their hands, but actually, Deborah says, the record was broken before
the lockdown even began. Participating brought relief to many people throughout a stressful time. “We got some fantastic letters,” says Deborah. Nurses told her that it helped them relax after a long shift, older people trapped at home said that the knitting kept them sane, and those who had sadly lost loved ones to the virus wrote that working on the knitted triangles helped at a di cult time. There were also stories of entire families knitting together, and children being inspired to knit. The majority of the flags came from across the UK, and also Australia, Spain and America.
GET THE FLAGS OUT!
The bunting was laid out at Westpoint Arena, Exeter, where it was carefully laid down and then o cially measured by local chartered surveyor Will Morrison. It will remain at the Arena until the end of August, and will be on show as soon as the regulations allow. Some of the bunting will be on next year’s rescheduled show, which will be the 125th Devon County Show.
Want to know more?
Head to www. devoncountyshow.co.uk for further information on viewing the bunting, and next year’s event.