Hand knitting initiative seeks crowd funding

A NEW initiative to help secure the future of hand knitting in Shetland is seeking support through crowd funding.

Shetland PeerieMakkers is a one-year pilot project, which has been set up by the Fetlar-based Brough Lodge Trust.

Those involved in the project share a concern that, since knitting is no longer part of the school curriculum, the islands’ hand knitting culture will be diluted or even lost.

The project will involve skilled volunteers in providing free hand knitting tuition to children in five local communities in Shetland.

The programme has been developed by a working group of volunteers, which will review the lessons learned from the pilots and apply them to developing a sustainable model for the future.

One of those involved in the working group has been the world’s fastest knitter Hazel Tindall, from Aith.

She said: “Although the volunteers’ time will be given freely, and yarns are sponsored, we’ll need to find some money to meet basic costs.”

The Brough Lodge Trust was originally established to restore the historic Brough Lodge on the island of Fetlar.

However, as trust chairman Pierre Cambillard said trustees realised that supporting the hand knitting culture must become a priority.

“Restoration of the house has begun but it will take time. We came to the view that, if we didn’t support hand knitting now, there was a real risk that it would become steadily weaker,” he said

“In August 2014, we invited interested folk to meet in Fetlar and the project grew out of that. Everyone recognised that there was some urgency to this.

“Shetland knitting means so much to people in Shetland and around the world. We’re hoping to raise £4,500, which, after some crowd funding costs, is enough to run all five pilot projects for a year,” he said.

The crowd funding page can be found at:
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/peeriemakkers-shetland?tk=eacf2d8cab0a65f4fbec566a11f0d03efd11aae1