Preston

#KnitBod 2016

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This piece was commissioned by Dr Liz Granger from The Young Scientist Centre at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, and funded by The Physiological Society.

Our brief was to respond creatively to the problem of having too few activities for younger children at The Young Scientist Centre. After a few sketches, we decided on how we could make an interactive body full of things to play with, to help engage young people and be a learning aid. It was an ambitious project, which we decided to share with some victims wonderful volunteers.

The most tedious part was probably knitting the small intestine, which was proper ‘plodding’ knitting and seemed to go on for weeks. We tried to share it around and I took my intestine out to several cafes and soft play areas during school holidays. The most exciting part was undoubtedly seeing the bodies completed.

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They even decided to drop into our ‘Woolly Thinking’ exhibition at Oxheys Mill Studios!

I was delighted to be involved in this project. All the volunteers, my family, and I learnt things about how our bodies work. If you want to knit your own body, sign up for the Happy Makes newsletter and you can download the patterns for your school or group – Free! Signup here.

*Caroline Finnigan is an artist with studios at Oxheys Mill Studios, Preston. She teaches knitting, crochet and other crafts, enjoys photographing things from strange angles and lives with dotty 2 cats.

Almost finished our knitted body

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wp-1466539962986.jpgThe sessions with our volunteers have officially finished now, and we are completing the last sections of intestines and ‘brain braid’.

Looking back, the sessions have gone very well, with new people picking up needles (or hook) for the first time, other people using their knowledge to suggest improvements to my patterns, and helping to make sure everyone is managing.

Considering we met for, at best 4 hours a week, the amount of knitting completed if great, and we actually have enough ‘spare parts’ to make a total of 3 bodies – that’s 2 extra! We have used a variety of yarns, for example, one of the livers is black to demonstrate damage.

We can now unzip the first of the bodies and play with the pieces, which is great fun.

In addition to the ‘work’, we’ve been sharing patterns and ideas for charity knitting, supporting premature and neonatal baby units being close to our hearts. We agreed it’s a great way to start the week, and it’s our intention to continue meeting and working on our own projects.

If you would like to join us, you can find us at In The City, St George’s Shopping Centre, Lune Street, on Mondays, at the slightly earlier time of 1pm – 3pm. (If you plan on making a journey especially, please contact me first, just in case this changes).