Hats off to bus knitter
ACOMMUTER who began knitting hats for charity to pass the time on her daily bus journey has been inundated with orders.
Heather Birch began making the woolly hats earlier this year to sell at the Christmas market at Edgeside Baptist Church, where she is treasurer.
Worried she might have knitted too many while sitting on the X43, she put her designs on Facebook and was amazed at the positive reaction.
Her creations, ranging from pink and purple baby bonnets to ‘Rastafarian’ hats in black, red, yellow and green, have been in such demand that they are known among her friends and the church congregation as her ‘X43 hats’. She has also taken bespoke orders, including from fans of football rivals Burnley and Blackburn.
Heather’s husband Nigel is an IT technician for Tor View school, and she also has a son Calum, daughter-in-law Emma and granddaughters Bella and Imogen.
The 49-year-old works for a bank in Manchester and has been commuting on the X43 since moving to Rossendale from Glasgow 28 years ago.
She explained: “I started commuting to Manchester on the X43 in 1989 and I have worked it out that I must have spent more than a year of my life on that bus! This year I decided I wanted to make better use of my time on the bus and started to do some knitting.
“At first I knitted a couple of jumpers for my husband, but using needles on the bus I was a bit conscious of getting them in the way of fellow passengers, so in May I started to use a plastic loom to knit hats. The hats don’t take very long and I realised I would soon have 50 hats.”
Heather, of Greendale Avenue, Newchurch, boards the bus at Bank Street in Rawtenstall and says by the time she gets off about 45 minutes later she will have been able to make one baby hat.
An adult one takes her a bit longer - the equivalent of three bus rides .”
She added: “It is relaxing.
“I imagine I’ve got vari- ous nicknames from people on the bus. You see the same faces every day as well as the drivers.
“The daft thing is I’m only just covering my wool and then donating whatever people are paying to the church or char- ity. In a way it’s me also making a donation, but I’m happy to do that because it’s a hobby of mine. You wouldn’t sell a hat for £4 to make money.”
The baptist church Christmas market was held on November 25.