Queen of KNITTING
Margaret’s created a royal masterpiece fit for a king!
Nonagenarian Brit Margaret Seaman has the royal family in stitches – thanks to her incredible knitted tributes!
Norfolk’s crafty Queen of Knitting created a 3D woollen Buckingham Palace for the coronation, having previously completed a majestic Sandringham House that won the approval of Queen Elizabeth II herself!
Margaret, 93, met Her Late Majesty when she was setting up the 2.4mx1.5m knitted model in the ballroom at the country estate.
“I had no idea she was coming,” she tells Woman’s Day. “She stayed a quarter of an hour, walked all the way around and talked about the different things. It was really a highlight in my life.”
Princess Anne was similarly impressed when she laid eyes on the model at the Royal Norfolk Show and Margaret has also met Queen Camilla, who presented her with the Champion Knitter of the Year Award at a gala in London.
“We had a chat and she was really very nice,” says Margaret.
She began the Buckingham Palace project in August 2022 but put it on hold soon after when the Queen died.
“I hadn’t got the heart to do anything with it for a time,” she explains.
But with the coronation approaching and the encouragement of her daughter Tricia, Margaret picked up her needles again.
She begins projects by getting permission to photograph the locations, then the images are blown up so she can examine them in minute detail. Then she creates a framework from polystyrene blocks and starts knitting. She doesn’t even use a pattern as she “has it all in my head”.
The model comes complete with miniature guards wearing tiny busby headdresses. The main house, gates and grounds were relatively simple. The trickiest part, Margaret reveals, was the statue of Queen Victoria outside.
But the knitting champion was able to compare her creation to the real thing when she attended the King’s Garden Party a few days before the coronation.
On the day itself, the greatgreat-grandmother was on the seafront at Great Yarmouth, where her family has a beach hut and she has a stall selling knitted items for charity.
To date, she’s made more than $190,000. Donations towards her current project, which was displayed at Norfolk Makers Festival, are raising funds for a local children’s hospital.
Tricia says she’s bursting with pride. “We’ve had some wonderful adventures and they keep coming,” she smiles.
Margaret is happy she can still make a difference at this stage in her life.
“I can’t do the things I used to love,” she reflects. “I can’t garden and I’m waiting for two hip operations, so I can’t do long walks. But I can sit and knit.”
While Margaret already has a British Empire Medal, surely a “knit-hood” can only be a matter of time!