Knitters Making Poppies for War Anniversary

Knitters in Australia and beyond are being called upon to create knit poppies that will be used to decorate the Australian War Memorial to mark the centenary of the ending of World War I next November.

The group 5,000 Poppies, which has been around for four years and has collected knit and crocheted poppies for various events, is making a big push in 2018 for two different projects. The first is to produce 50,000 lapel poppies by April 2018 for the Victorian RSL for their 2018 Poppy Appeal. A post on the group’s Facebook page said they had 20,000 already finished.

The second project is to plant poppies at the war memorial to represent each Australian who died in World War I. That’s about 62,000, and they have 18,000 to 20,000 finished (as of February). The poppies for this project are due by August of next year and can be mailed to the war memorial or to 5,000 Poppies directly (see the link above for addresses).

They have patterns that can be used to make the poppies, and they need to be worked tightly so they will look good in a lapel or on display, and the poppies for the war memorial need to be able to withstand the elements because they will be on display outdoors for five weeks. I also have a collection of knit poppy patterns that would be great for this purpose.

This is a lovely project and a great way to use some red yarn from your stash in the cause of remembrance and peace.

If you send any poppies, I would love to hear about it!

[Photo: 5,000 Poppies.]

Looking for more knitting patterns for Poppies? Check these out on Etsy.

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Chicks don’t necessarily have anything to do with Easter, but they are a popular motif this time of year. I’ve shared some chick knitting patterns before, but it seems like time to share some more.

I love this little bitty fuzzy chick from Gray Bear Akswokrat on Etsy. It’s worked flat and the pattern includes photos to help with assembly.

This funny chick has a flower on its head, but you could use a different embellishment or just leave it off if you don’t like it. This pattern is from Midaami292, and it is also worked flat and uses four colors of yarn. The yarn used on the sample is DK weight and makes a chick that’s 26 cm, or a little more than 10 inches tall.

Fluff and Fuzz has another adorable chick pattern, this time adorned with a little hat and scarf, perfect for those places where it’s still chilly at Easter time. This one calls for DK weight yarn in four colors and uses straight knitting needles for working flat. The chick comes out to 20 cm tall including the hat (that’s about 7.8 inches).

Chicks make a great shape to cover a chocolate orange, and you can find three different chick chocolate orange covers in this pattern from Carol Connelly (available on Ravelry). You can knit up a chick that’s still hatching from the egg, a round one with feet and a fuzzy full bodied chick. They use DK weight yarn and are worked flat from the bottom up.

Frugal Knitting Haus has this adorable mama hen washcloth with scrubby chicks that you can buy on Ravelry or their website. It uses regular worsted weight kitchen cotton yarn for the hen and a scrubby yarn for the chicks.

Maybe my favorite of all, though, is Jan the little chick purse, a pattern on Ravelry from Cristina Tonarelli. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a little purse made with a coin purse clasp in the shape of a chick. It uses worsted weight yarn and the instructions are made for working in the round, but it includes instructions for working flat as well.

Check Out This Sweet Easter Chick Basket

Eggs, Cozies and Chicks to Knit for Easter

Fun Easter Knitting Patterns

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