Rage (ok, Knit) against the (Olypmics) machine – can you help….

I know – a barking topic for STW but, there you go….
Please bear with me on this one..
The long and short of it – MrsMM likes her knitting and crochet.
She, along with 1000’s of others, got involved in a project call Woolsack, official recognised by LOCOG as part of the Cultural Olympiad, lots of folk were knitting etc cushions, to be passed to the competitors at this years games – a nice homely touch that was easy to take home as well – the cushions being 100% british wool (to support the industry) and 100% unique as everyone, from schools, to scouts, to individuals, designed and made their own, including a label with a personal message etc.
The project is gong well, until LOCOG decide the cushions cannot be delivered en-masse, indeed not delivered at all for fear of upsetting corporate sponsors (quite how they could not, for example, involve corporate sponsors in making the delivery – i think UPS are the official courier? – therefore generating more publicity for said sponsor, is beyond all at Woolsack but, anyways…)

If you’ve got this far – yes, this is serious, the press have hold of it, it;s been in Private Eye, the main ladies have been on breakfast TV etc… Here’s an example sorry its the daily fail but, you get the idea…

So, the only way athletes can now get cushions is to request them.
So – do you know anyone connected to any of the teams, matters not what the team is, or wherein the country / world it is – I guess, posing here A link to British Cycling should not be too much to hope for?

If you can help, please drop us a line – e-mail in profile.

A polite request, please, please do not post if you’re just going to try and turn this into an anti Olympic / Corporate rant – FWIW i tend to agree that it’s all a bit daft but, lets be honest, we’ve done it to death….

Cheers
Chris

I know someone who works at BC. I’ll send him a link to this.

Cheers!
BTW – I know I owe you an e-mail. We’ve just finalised our holiday plans so I’ll get some dates to you.
Chris

Is saying aaaaargh and biting my lip permissable?

More knitting based olympic fun down the road from me:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111518/A-yarn-Olympic-proportions–Mystery-knitter-attaches-50-yard-long-scarf-featuring-woollen-athletes-pier.html

They’ve even done one on the promeande rails for the jubiliee!

Is saying aaaaargh and biting my lip permissable?

Of course, so long as you do it quietly 😉

thisisnotaneatingimplement 😉 – seen that! Oddly enough, just like I surf this hallowed forum, MrsMM is a member of several knitting based ones – i’m reliably informed the art above is referred to as ‘yarn bombing’!
A couple of the Gormley statues in Crosby recently got covered head to foot in crocheted skin suits….

I love the yarn bombing.
We recently saw a whole mini fiat and other items, lamposts, seats covered in New Mills, very cheerful.

Hope MrsMarsdenwomen gets sorted.

Yesterday, we spent and hour and a half in the company of the Australian swimming team @ their northern base – The Hilton in M’cr. We were there by invitation as one of the team had seen something about the project on twitter.

Now, I have to be honest, I really did not know what the athletes and staff would make of the whole thing (MrsMM asked me along to help carry bags of cushions and to take photo’s).
It was brilliant.
Athletes loved the cushions, loved the very personal connection – each one is 100% unique, each has a message from the maker, we had maps to show them where they’d been made etc. etc.

It’s still not too late – if you have any connection with a team, however vague, please give it a nudge.

I know the the ladies organising Woolsack are especially looking to hear from cycling teams – hence i’ve posted this little update on here.

Any photos?

I’ve passed a note on to Georgia Gould of the US MTB Team.

i like it, i’m getting smashed watching titanic and stw is saving the olympic games via knitting! yay!

A local hotel is hosting the American olympic equestrian team (Hadleigh, Suffolk). I’ll ask them.

Georgia says “thanks chipps. i will definitely be requesting my cushion- what a cool project!”
Saving the Olympics via knitwear, the STW way! 🙂

No direct link but I know a few teams are using the Surrey Sports park in Guildford as a training base and have emailed their olympic media relations manager with a hope he can at least pass the message on.

Yay!
Home (from pub….HIC!) to see the replies – thanks folks 🙂

Idiot that I am, it never occurred to post a link to this rather ace project so, here it is!

That takes you to the page where folk can learn how to get in touch to request their cushion. Of-course, it links to a whole load more information. 🙂

There are organisers all over the country, working hard to be sure that all requests for cushions are fulfilled, no matter where the athletes are based – 2 top ladies travelled from Cumbria yesterday to bring 60 cushions for the swimmers to pick from. Others went to Sheffield to drop cushions in to the USA diving team.

Lovely. Cute. Mad. Twee. (i’ve used them all). Call it what you will, loads of folk really are doing their bit to make the Olympic experience that bit more personal. The small insight I’ve had surprised me in the most brilliant way.

Thanks STW for helping share that vision.

Chris

So, this knitting forum:

– What do they argue about discuss? Brand of knitting needles? Are Ti ones better than Aluminum? Has carbon fiber made an impact yet? Will I die if…?

– I assume that it’s about 99%+ female; do they worry about it and try to attract men to their hobby with male-only knitting clinics and such?

– Are knitting needles cheaper from Germany or do they advocate supporting the local knitting shop? Do they hide the cost of their obsession hobby from the men in their lives?

– Do they of these knitting forums find male cyclists attractive?

– When someone posts a photo of their latest knitted product, what do they comment about? Lint on the sofa? Curtains a bit wrinkled? Cat not posed properly and not wearing any knitted items?

– I shudder to think of their equivalent of bike porn…

Very funny JoeG, you knit wit. (well someone was bound to say it)
That one on Saltburn pier was quite good.

we like the yarn bombing in my house. here’s this for mrs mm to check out…

Massive Crocheted Alligator Playground Pops Up in São Paulo!

marsdenman – please give mrsmarsdenwoman my compliments. Those cushions are lovely.

Cheers all!

chipps – double cheers – i’ve asked to be advised as and when contact has been made!

Sandwich – cool. tanks for giving it a go!

swiss – mrsmm will be taking a closer look at that site later!

Cheers Bunnyhop – she’ll be reading this thread again later – she’s said she simply cannot not reply to JoeG’s comments above! She was last seen heading out on her bike riding to, oddly enough, her LWS 😉
Seems MrsMM has the road riding bug – the on-one has slicks on at the mo and she put in a really good effort on it on a 15 mile road ride last Sunday, as part of a 3 person team doing an ickle triathlon. She is actually talking about getting a road bike on her ride to work scheme….

RE: the cushions – Sharon had 3 cushions in that lot – the shot of here with a bloke and a cushion is, of course, one of hers.
The rest were brilliant and quite literally, from all areas, north to south.

Will see if they are ok with me posting a few pics on here.

MM – So she is one of those sweary Big Hitters on KnittingTrackWorld, isn’t she? 😀