A GROUP of friends who meet regularly to knit and crochet have put their hooks and needles to good use to contribute to the costumes for the Merlin Theatre’s 2021 Christmas Show, The Wind in the Willows.
These creative hobbyists, all women in the Frome area, are keeping their fingers nimble and their minds busy by crocheting hats and gloves for child cast members playing little rabbits, mice, squirrels and otters, as well as adult actor roles of a mole, a badger and a horse.
The regular Thursday Stitchers’ group, unable to meet in-person since the first lockdown, have been focusing on their own projects recently, but given the challenge of making hats with ears and mittens for paws, they have risen to the community call-out and been group-creating on Zoom.
Members Jill Smart, Lynne Williams, Paula Smart, Sue Nash and Sue Denmark have been joined by Carol Morris and Chloe Ward; they have all been project-managed by Kim Holmes to produce 34 hats, 22 pairs of gloves, a mane and a tail.
No strangers to having their work on-show, these ladies frequently enter the Frome Show Handicrafts Group Entry class and are proud three-time winners of the Wallington and Weston Perpetual Challenge Cup.
Kim Holmes said, “Being asked to make hats and gloves held no fears for us. Over the years we’ve produced some weird and wonderful items for our show entries. We’ve knitted and crocheted Shrek and Fiona, beach huts, a dragon and some Jammy Dodgers. We’re really happy to help with costumes for the Merlin Show and can’t wait to see our handiwork on stage.”
With the final finishing touches of the costumes still tightly under wraps, here is a taster of how the needlework will look when it gets its first showing at the Merlin Theatre’s The Wind in the Willows family show, from 8th-11th December.
