PeaceKnits Pop-Up Event

This open day of cottage garden knit-art, word-play and activities is being held to remember the events of April 1915 and mark the significant 100th anniversaries of ANZAC origins in the war to end all wars, and Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) peace congress.

Hand workers & writers, men and women, young and old, are invited to contribute to the garden art installations and day of activities.

Cooperative art works to be displayed on 11 April 2015 will include:

• 6m hand-knitted Lone Pine Pole Cosy; Peace Women Memory Quilt
• Pictures, Patterns and Stories of WW1 sock knitting
• The Sock Knitter unveiled
• “All Hands on Deck” hammock of 100 hand-knit fingerless text mittens
• Textile Art exhibit featuring the work of local artist, Robyn McPherson
• Pyramid of 100 hand-knit cotton comfort bandages
• Rose Window exhibits
• Giant Wash Cloth for Mankind (made from 100 hand-knit cloths)
• Giant Potholder for Womankind (made from 100 hand-sewn potholders)
• Launch of a Chapbook of 100 haiku to mark our 2015 Anzac & Peace centenaries

All age activities on the day will include:

• Crafting (paper-folding, DIY beanie, egg or tea cosy competitions)
• One Long Yarn of nonstop stories & poems (being read as they’re written & strung up on yarn)
• “Bottomless Cup” refreshments available 11-3 on the day

Please contact the convenor to confirm your involvement, or to discuss activities or ways you might be involved in the Pop-Up Event.

PeaceKnits April 2015 is a community-based open cottage garden knit-art event, being prepared since May 2013, designed to share understandings of conflict and possibilities for peace experienced over the past hundred years. The event solemnly marks two significant 100th anniversaries:

• ANZAC origins in 1915
• the April 1915 women’s peace congress and formation of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

PeaceKnits’ hand-work and word-play also focuses on Australian art and writing from 1915 (such as Grace Cossington Smith’s “The Sock Knitter” and “The Sentimental Bloke” by C J Dennis) as ways to understand different views or experiences of war and peace.

Since May 2013, PeaceKnits preparations and support have included:

• Monthly open cottage workshops, to provide opportunities for people to knit-write-chat
• One-off workshops with other craft and writing groups, to discuss experiences and ways of expressing different approaches to war and peace. Presentations and discussions have been held with: Queanbeyan Bush Poets, Queanbeyan Writers, Queanbeyan Poetry Reading Group; Fellowship of Australian Writers; ACT Poets for Peace; Queanbeyan Quilters, Queanbeyan and Kiama Knitters’ Guilds; WILPF ACT; Queanbeyan CWA; Jamberoo and Queanbeyan Red Cross
• Display of PeaceKnits handmade and written items at: Kiama Show; Queanbeyan Quilters Exhibition; Queanbeyan Show; Braidwood Airing of the Quilts; Queanbeyan Museum – 100th anniversary of Australian Red Cross; Jamberoo Red Cross 100th anniversary book launch; Kiama Knitters’ Guild Annual Exhibition; and at Queanbeyan Uniting Church Spring Fair

After the PeaceKnits April 2015 Pop-Up event, handmade items will be gifted to a range of Australian and overseas charitable organisations, including:

• the Wayside Chapel, Sydney
• the Belgian-run lepresarium, diabetes clinic and fistula hospital in Niger, Africa
• to vulnerable children in developing countries in Asia/Pacific, including through Operation Christmas Child

Large handmade pieces from PeaceKnits event will also be featured at:

• at the Passion performances by Chorus of Women to be held at the Albert Hall, Canberra, in late April 2015
• as part of WILPF International Triennial Conference to be held in Canberra in May 2015

All PeaceKnits efforts, hand-work and writing, are made by personal voluntary contribution.