The Community Tree Project

No matter how you look at it, this year has been tough. Going into Autumn it’s hard not to feel concerned about what lies ahead, and we are missing our community more than ever! 

At Wool on the Exe ‘community’ is our reason for being. As a social enterprise we strive to bring people together, to learn new skills, make new friends and share our craft, but most importantly, just to bring people together! We’ve missed this terribly as we’ve had to cancel our workshops, groups and events. It’s wonderful that the shop is open, but it’s not quite the same without being able to offer tea, hugs, or our helpful hands when a stitch is dropped. 

However, we know it’s important to rise to the challenge of connecting through this time. It feels more important than ever to safely engage and act to combat the feelings of isolation and disconnection that are so prevalent right now. To that end, we invite you to join us in a display of friendship and solidarity by taking part in our Community Tree project.

The Community Tree is our way of building a symbol of hope, connectedness and teamwork. It will be crafted from knit and crochet squares submitted by anyone who would like to join in. The tree will be displayed in our shop window through winter. Afterwards we will unpick and rejoin the squares to make blankets that will be donated to the mother and baby unit at the R D & E.

To make the project cohesive and accessible we will provide packs with the yarn and patterns to make the squares. You can pick up packs from the shop or let us know if you need to have one sent out. All you need is 4.0 mm needles for knitting or a 4.0 mm hook for crochet. The patterns are incredibly simple and we can provide links to tutorials if required. Absolute beginners are encouraged to join in, anyone can do it! 

Also included in your pack will be a star-shaped cardboard tag. You can use this tag to write a wish, a hope, a dedication, a message, a short poem, or anything you would like to share. This is optional and can be anonymous if you prefer. You are also welcome to decorate your star if you would like to. When you submit your finished squares please attach the star using yarn from your pack.  We will need to receive all squares by 1st November to add them to the tree.

Please let us know if we can help with anything and please feel free to share this with anyone who might like to participate. Everyone is welcome to join us in this project! We all know the benefits of knitting and crochet, this could be an ideal chance for you to get your friends and family to learn too!