Knit, knit, hooray!
In honor of Saturday’s coronation of King Charles, a team of knitters from England have created a 7-foot-tall, knitted statue of the monarch.
The artwork, which was created by a group of 29 knitters from the Holmes Chapel Community Yarn Bombers in Cheshire, took four months to make and used over 75 balls of wool.
“We like to do things differently, and I don’t think there’s anybody else who has done a 7-foot king,” club founder Anita Armitt told South West News Service.
Armitt explained to the outlet that the nimble artists were first inspired to make the statue — which is part of a tableau that also features a knitted wheelbarrow full of flowers and wildlife, rain boots and a red watering can — thanks to Charles’ love of the outdoors.
“King Charles is into his ecology and his gardening. So we thought: ‘Let’s add a few garden things in, like butterflies, bees, a wheelbarrow, a spade with a robin on it and bubble bees,’ ” Armitt explained.
In order to create the larger-than-life-sized plushy, the hobbyists worked piece by piece, knitting different parts of the model until they tied it all together at the end, so to speak.
The overall design had been kept a secret from the other members until the grand reveal last weekend.
Now, the knitted King Charles, who sits atop knitted quilts, is on display to the public at the garden of St Luke’s Church, Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.
What you need to know about the coronation:
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- A timeline of King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla’s complicated relationship
However, the group had a long road to get everything ready to stage the the elaborate scene: They started knitting in January, with Armitt working alongside her co-director Nicola Swinnerton, to make it happen: “I was buying the wool, and I put a list of what I wanted. Then I’d put the wool in a bag and leave it on my porch,” said Armitt.
“They’d come and collect it and drop it off again,” Armitt said of her team. “But nobody other than Nicola and myself knew what we were doing.”
Funnily enough, this isn’t the only time that the group has knitted something in a royal tribute.
Last June, during the Queen’s Jubilee – a celebration that marked her 70-year reign – knitters made a similar statue of the late monarch, according to the BBC.
They even knit the late queen a matching pet corgi, as she had more than 30 of them as pets throughout her lifetime.
Armitt explained to SWNS that the knitting group first started during the coronavirus pandemic. “I formed the Yarn Bombers during COVID because everybody was feeling a bit miserable and down because you couldn’t get out of the house,” Armitt recalled.
At the time, she added, the group knitted and crocheted from their own homes and shared their work remotely — which is what they still do today, but came together for the unveiling of King Charles’ statue.
“Everybody says the detail is magnificent, and they say it’s better than the queen, but I found that quite surprising,” Armitt confessed.
“It’s in the church gardens. The vicar is thrilled to bits,” she added.
The king’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday marks the official transfer of power to Charles after his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away last September.
It will feature star-studded performances featuring Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli.
Charles’ son Prince Harry will also be in attendance — sans wife, Meghan Markle.
