Yahoo News Knitting together, we fought loneliness – and broke a British record
“You never know where knitting is going to take you,” says 75-year-old Liz Alcock, laughing. With that in mind, she’s taking her part in creating Britain’s biggest knitted bobble hat in stride.
Being constructed in Nottingham, the hat has been crafted in celebration of Innocent Drinks’ Big Knit campaign which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. Proving more than the flash-in-the-pan marketing stunt it may once have appeared, the annual campaign sees volunteer knitters from around the country creating miniature bobble hats to go on top of Innocent Smoothie bottles with a portion of the sales donated to Age UK to fund and promote projects dedicated to combating social isolation in older people.
Alcock has been knitting for Innocent’s campaign for 19 years and recommends it to anyone wanting to get into knitting. “It’s such an easy way of getting people to communicate,” she explains. “It’s fun. If you’re not confident it’s a really simple thing to do - it’s a good way of learning to knit because each hat is tiny.”
Having first learned to knit at eight, taught by her grandmothers, Alcock has kept up the habit throughout her life. “I gave up smoking when I became pregnant with my son, 38 years ago,” she says. “I needed something to do with my hands, so I took up knitting again. But there’s only so many jumpers you need, only so many scarfs you can make for nephews and nieces, so I started knitting for charity.”
From her home in north London, Alcock has started a knitting school and is a member of no less than three knitting groups between her Age UK group and Women’s Institute groups, through which she organises such charity endeavours. “I’d recommend knitting to anyone,” she says.
“I have never met a knitting club that wasn’t thrilled to have new members, but if you can’t find one, go on YouTube and find a teacher - make sure they’re English because American knitters have different terminology. All you need to learn is how to cast on, how to knit, then how to cast off. Before you know it you’ll have a lap blanket, and we all need one of those right now, don’t we?”
In addition to bobble hats, Alcock has knitted crowns and silver tiaras from the late Queen’s personal pattern book for the 2012 Diamond Jubilee (her creations are now in the Museum of London’s collection) and put together thousands of knitted cushions for every athlete who competed at the London 2012 Olympics.
“Knitting is totally irrelevant to life, but I couldn’t live without it - there’s a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment in knitting with others,” Alcock says, beaming. “It’s creative, you feel that you’re collaborating. It’s a great way to build confidence, communicate with others over a shared interest, because you’ve got that thing in common you feel as if you belong, and it’s good for mental health because it’s quite calming. You can’t be panicking over things while you’re knitting - unless of course you’ve dropped your stitches!”
Age UK - one of the four charities supported by this year’s Telegraph Charity Appeal - runs and offers funding towards hundreds of social groups up and down the UK, including knitting, photography, walking football and quiz teams to help combat social isolation, one of the most pressing issues for over-50s.
According to the charity’s research, around 1.2m older people are often lonely. Over the last two years, calls to Age UK’s Advice Line have grown by 20 per cent.
Jane Everett, 61, from West Bridgford, Nottingham, is also joining the Big Knit event with her church knitting group, the Woolly Wednesdays. Everett founded the group in 2015, as part of her work as a community engagement officer for the West Bridgford Methodist Church to help connect older people in her community.
“We became aware that there were a lot of people living locally who were living on their own, had suffered a bereavement or were suffering from feeling socially isolated and had lost confidence in going out,” she explains. Every Woolly Wednesdays meeting revolves around three key elements: tea, knitting, and chat. “We thought a knitting group would be quite a good way to get people together to chat, build confidence, make new friends and have a laugh.”
Everett says that she has lost count of how many people in all sorts of situations the group has helped. “Perhaps their spouse has died or they’ve got used to isolation after Covid lockdowns. It’s hard for those people to find the motivation to get out. Our group is a very non-threatening way to get alongside people, chat to them, build friendships and confidence. It certainly does help people on their journeys.”
Hannorah Lee is Age UK’s director of partnerships and philanthropy who was visiting the Big Knit event on Monday. “Older people are facing an incredibly difficult reality and, as we face a cost of living crisis, she says.
“Age UK is receiving more and more calls from older people worried about how they’ll survive the winter months. This year marks 20 years of our partnership with Innocent and, therefore, 20 years of tiny hats making a big difference to older people most in need. What better way to celebrate the mammoth effort of our knitters, and the impact they’ve had, than by bringing lots of people together for a new knitting challenge!”
As the slightly-comical sight of a giant bobble being hoisted onto the world’s biggest bobble hat takes place, Everett describes it as a celebration of the slightly silly joy of knitting. “You can’t help but gain from knitting,” she says. “You can sit down, knit a square and relax, without having to think about anything else. And if other people can gain from what we produce too, that’s an incredible feeling to get from it.”
To donate, please visit telegraph.co.uk/2022appeal or call 0151 284 1927
