Knit one, purl fun

Check out Braintree’s knitted town.

Members of the Dolphin WI in Braintree, Essex, have put their knitting skills to good use creating knitted replicas of the town’s historic buildings. “The project began three years ago as a celebration of 100 years of the Women’s Institute (WI),” explains Elaine Pye, Vice President of Dolphin WI. “I decided to ask if anyone would be interested in a creative knitting group after seeing a knitted village project in Hertfordshire.” / i wÀÃÌ LÕ ` } Ì i Ì>V i` Ü>à -Ì V >i à ÕÀV ° º iÜ Ì Ü Õ ` } Ûi Ì i ÌÌiÀÃ Ü V> i Ì ÕÀ wÀÃÌ meeting plenty of pieces to choose between,” says Elaine. “I made the model using polystyrene, masking tape and wooden kebab sticks. After asking the rest of our WI for oddments of yarn, we met at my house and began to knit!” As well as Elaine, the skilled knitters taking part were Pam > iÃ] -> >ÀÌÀ «] > / >V iÀ] >À > > iÌÌ] >ÕÀii 7 `Ü>À`] >À ivvÀi ] 7i ` , Ü Ã ] - À i Àii ] >À > -ÌiÛi à > ` *>Õ i -ÕÌÌ ° « iÌ } -Ì V >i à ÕÀV Ì Ã Ì Ã° "ÛiÀ Ì i i Ì ÌÜ i>ÀÃ Ì i }À Õ« ÌÌi` Ài« V>à v Ìi À> ÌÀii buildings, including the library, museum, town hall, railway

“A er asking the rest of our WI for oddments of yarn, we met over tea, co ee and cake and began to knit!”

ÃÌ>Ì > ` / i -Ü> «ÕL] « Õà i >À iÌ ÃÌ> ð / i models certainly captured public attention, with the group i L Ì } Ì i >Ì i > `À> *> >Vi v À / i 7 > À >ÀV Óä£Ç] > ` Ì i L Û Ì>Ì >Ì / i ÌÌ } > ` -Ì ÌV } - Ü "VÌ LiÀ Óä£Ç°

“After making models we decided to knit a collage « VÌÕÀi v Ì i *ÕL V >À`i Ã Ü Ì > Û iÜ Ì >ÌÌÀ>VÌ } iÜ Û Õ ÌiiÀÃ Ì i « « > Ì > ` ii« Ì Ì ` ]» Ã> à > i° º giving talks to other WIs we covered the cost of framing it. / i « VÌÕÀi Ü > }Ã Ì i *ÕL V >À`i à V>vj Ü> °» Their latest creations include a picture of local weavers’ V ÌÌ>}ià > ` > ÌÌi` L> iÀ Ì > } À> ÌÀii Õ Ì i ÌÀi Ü iÀi « 7 iiÌ i>V Ì ° º7 i Ì >Ì Ã w à i`] Üi Ì « VÌÕÀià v Ì i Õ Ì i ÌÀi] V } 7 ` > ` ÃÕÀÀ Õ ` } V Õ ÌÀ à `i°» / i À >ÌiÃÌ } > Ã Ì VÀi>Ìi > ÌÌi` À> ÌÀii Õ ` }à Trail. “We hope that presenting the models to the buildings they represent and making them part of the trail will i V ÕÀ>}i Ì iÀ 7 à > ` Ì ÕÀ ÃÌÃ Ì i « Ài À> ÌÀii°» Written by Judy Darley

Neatly knitted little a row… town houses all in complete Braintree Library with bright red postbox.

Hours of work knitting went into and constructing The Swan public house. Their knitting endeavours even made it into the local press!Complicated building construction in progress...

Dolphin WI’s merry band of knitters met at Elaine’s house. St Michael’s Church wa first building the Dolph tackled for their projec

A picture of the Public Gardens to encourage volunteer park keepers!Some of the knit crew showing off the interior of St Peter’s Church.

Dolphin Women’s Institute Vice President, Elaine, instigated a craft event to celebrate 100 years of the WI.