Community group to place four handmade knitted Christmas trees in Sheffield

Last January Rachel Habergham became inspired when she saw a photo of a knitted Christmas tree and thought she would try it out herself.

A year later, hundreds of squares have been knitted and crocheted – many by people who have never met eachother – to create the five foot eight-inch Christmas trees around the area.

The trees were unveiled on December 3 with three located in Kiveton Park, one in South Anston Methodist Church, one in Cawthorne Church and one at Wales High School.

The main focus was at The Friendly Bench in Kiveton where the community gathered for festive singing and Christmas stories by candlelight.

All the knitting and crocheting was done solely by Kiveton Knitting and Crochet group which was formed to knit flowers for Alana’s Caring Cakes and since then has created things including post box toppers, poppies and worms.

The group estimates there were over 1,900 hours of sewing, crocheting, knitting, designing of each and every square. Rachel said each knitted square was unique and as creative as the other.

As the main tree was one of the biggest structures the group had worked on, resident Sid England contacted his nephew and suggested he should make the metal frames for the tree. Though Sid passed away in November, the tree at Wales Parish Church was installed in his memory.

Group members have now said they would like to continue to grow and enjoy knitting and crocheting while creating features in the community for people to enjoy.