In Stitches @ St George's are continuing to meet in the Ruishton Inn. We meet on the second Friday of each month. We are meeting next on Friday 9th May between 10 – 12 noon. If you enjoy knitting or crotchet and would like to join us, please come along.
Muriel Coles 01823 443019
In Stitches @ St George's - Report for 2024
In 2025 In Stitches @ St George's will be ten years old. In 2015 a small group of us appealed (via the Ruishton Village Hall Newsletter) for knitted or crotcheted flowers. Hundreds arrived, not only the local villages but from all over the British Isles and even further afield. Various groups of volunteers then spent hours sitting on the floor of a garage chatting and attaching the flowers onto a garden arch. When it was completed six of us carried the arch from Lawn Meadow to Ruishton church. The arch was then secured over the church path. Many people came to see it and so In Stitches @ St George's was formed.
Ten years on we are normally nine in number and the group continues to meet each month with the same level of drive and enthusiasm as at it's beginning. In December our usual venue, the Ruishton Church Meeting Room was temporarily unavailable. The Ruishton Inn however kindly opened it's doors to us, and has proved a very popular venue!
Today the “In Stitches” group enjoys celebrating various national or seasonal events in yarn. This past year we have focused our attention on 3 of our locations postboxes, at Ruishton (Dinhams), Creech St Michael (opposite the post office) and Henlade (post office).
At Easter the Ruishton postbox sported an Ostrich egg in a sunny garden, Henlade Post Office postbox a family of playful bunnies and Creech St Michael postbox had an Easter Bonnet with playful chicks.
The summer of 2024 was full of Olympic excitement, this was reflected in our choices for the summer postbox toppers.
The postbox at Henlade sported a French athlete and a British athlete with the Olympic rings. Ruishton's Olympic flag was the backdrop for tennis practice and weight training. The Creech St Michael postbox sported the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic mascot and Olympians rowing in the River Seine.
Each year on Remembrance Sunday “In Stitches” displays a large poppy cross in Ruishton church. In 2024 “In Stitches” also arranged a display in the Ruishton Church porch which included a tin helmet and a pair of military boots both expertly worked in Crotchet.
Christmas is a wonderful time to create postbox toppers and the final creations for 2024 celebrated Christmas.
Henlade had a gingerbread house, Ruishton a Father Christmas with sack and helpers, whilst Creech St Michael featured the Toy Town postbox.
In Ruishton Church at Christmas time “In Stitches” has a very special, knitted tinsel Christmas tree. It's a memory tree, placed so that anyone who wishes can use it to remember someone special at Christmas. In 2024 there were 23 individuals remembered on the tree.
As a group we are aware of the need to consider our carbon footprint. We try as much as possible to use wool donated to us by local people who no longer need it. As a consequence many lofts are less cluttered with bags of excess wool! We also clean and store as many of the component parts of our displays as is possible. These can and are re-purposed and re-used many times.
The monthly “In Stitches” group meeting are informal and enjoyable. Our meetings are an opportunity to show each other any completed work or work in progress. We teach each other new skills and talk about plans for future projects. The aim for each of the displays we make is simply to make people smile. If you enjoy knitting or crotchet and would like to join us, just come along.
Muriel Coles
Please click on the links for story of the projects that the 'In Stiches' group has worked on over the past few years:
Flower arch and Nativity scene
Knitting patterns for life-size nativity scene
The Creech Knitting Group meets every other week for a cup of tea, a chat and, of course, lots of knitting. Knitted strips are made into blankets and many jumpers, hats and scarves are also produced. Other people make knitted items at home which are then passed on to the group. The items are forwarded to charities providing warm clothing for many who live in poverty. Some of the smaller items produced by the group are also included in the shoeboxes that are filled each year by church members for the 'Operation Christmas Child' charity who bring a bit of Christmas cheer to children in Africa and Eastern Europe. Some of us are also meeting up at Creech Parish Church from 3-4 p.m. on Wednesdays when tea/coffee and cake are available.