Kelly Ferguson describes how the Knitted Pudsey hanging was created. (9 minutes)
Knitted Pudsey began life in late 2021 when Kelly Ferguson brought together a group of yarn craft enthusiasts in Pudsey to create a giant knitted and crocheted map of the town. Pudsey is a town mid way between Leeds and Bradford which has a rich heritage in the spinning, weaving and textile trade, so a re-creation in yarn seemed appropriate.
Kelly had previously been involved with Knitted Leeds which was organised by Nick and Natasha Milton of Spring Into Wool and you may have seen Kelly giving a talk about it at the 2020 Unconvention.
Both Knitted Pudsey and Knitted Leeds are part of a wider project called Knit Your Town Project which is the brainchild of Sue Howell who started the project with Knitted Newbury. The maps are approximately 7 feet wide by 5 feet high and are built onto a backing base of 315 squares of 10cm. Created mainly in acrylic materials to ensure longevity, the maps contain around 40 local landmarks, personalities and historical references in yarn form.
Local schools were involved whereby the children ran a competition to design a square, with the winning design being recreated by the creative group.
Knitted Pudsey took approximately 18 months to create and was launched on Yorkshire Day (1st August) 2023, being displayed in a local yarn shop and will in the long term be on display for the local community to view.
About the speaker
Kelly Ferguson is a self confessed craft addict, enjoying both yarn and fabric crafts. She was taught to knit at a young age by her gran who was a prolific knitter. She much prefers crochet, she is self taught, using a variety of sources such as online tutorials and books as well as well as taking the International Crochet Diploma. In the twelve years she has been crocheting, she has enjoyed learning the variety of techniques, her favourites being Tunisian and Mosaic crochet.
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