Hundreds of volunteers have been knitting franticly for eight whole months to make some knit wear to make the 900^th anniversary of a town called Cardigan, in Wales.

A giant cardigan, that is 5m wide and 2.5m long, has been created by an army of 200 knitters to celebrate Cardigan’s 900th anniversary in 2010 and the town’s culture and history.

The garment depicts a castle, shops, mermaids, coracles, churches and chapels, as well as portraits of 50 young school children, who stitched their pictures as part of the design to represent the town’s future.

The cardigan was one of several anniversary projects funded by a £30,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

COMMUNITY SEWING

The Cardigan Knitting Project was designed and co-ordinated by Lisa Hellier, a community artist based in nearby Eglwyswrw.

She said: “Last year The Tivy Side Advertiser put out a request for ideas to celebrate the town’s 900th anniversary so I rang them up and it blossomed from there.

“We have used cable stitch throughout and the many threads twisted together become strong, representing our community.”

TWISTED THREADS REPRESENT TOWN BONDS

The group of knitting volunteers, who were of all knitting abilities, had met in the town hall every Sunday since March last year to work on the garment.

Ms Hellier said: “This allowed people to knit, discuss the project, pop in to pick up wool or drop off sections of the cardigan that people had knitted at home, or in hospital.”

Many pieces were also sent in from people far away who wanted to help with project; such as one contribution from a knitter in Cardigan, New Brunswick, Canada whose family had emigrated there 200 years ago.

JIGSAW MASTERPIECE

“All the pieces are in, and we are stitching it all together, which is like doing a jigsaw with no picture,” she added.

Catrin Miles of Cardigan 2010, which has organised a series of events to mark the anniversary, said the cardigan would be on display at the Guildhall during 2011.

Ulster Weavers have fantastic ranges of egg cosies, and tea cosies that are of the highest quality. They are fun and quirky cafetiere cosies to suit every taste that come with matching items to make your home stylish this New Year.

And of course, they keep your tea and coffee toastie warm!

Strawberry Shaped Egg Cosy

Birdsong Tea Cosy

There are many confusions and disputing dates around the world about when is Milk Day.

It has been suggested though, that we celebrate it on Tuesday 11^th January 2011, as the day milk was delivered in glass bottles for the first time in 1878.

Glass bottles were chosen as they kept the milk fresh and healthy which was then supplied to many customers on this special day.

Beforehand, milk had been given to consumers in big cans which were exposed to many harmful elements.

It is reported refrigerated milk didn’t even come into existence until 1938.

INTERESTING MILK FACTS

• All cows are female; male cattle are called bulls.
• Dairy cows provide over 90 per cent of the entire planet’s milk supply.
• It takes 12 pounds of milk to make a single gallon of ice cream.
• Milk is actually comprised of 85 to 95 per cent water.
• A single cow produces about 90 glasses of milk per day and approx. 200,000 glasses of milk per lifetime.

Here are some fun milk arts and crafts the family can do together; so grab your Apron and get involved!

Use paints, felt tip pens, or odd bits and bobs like string that you can stick on and let your imagination run wild.

Please be careful when handling the recyclable items, as they may have sharp edges which can cut the children’s fingers. And always use children’s safety scissors when cutting cardboard or paper.

Cartoon Characters

A great way to recycle your used milk cartons is to turn them into fun and playful cartoon characters. First and foremost though, make sure you wash them out beforehand or they will smell of gone-off sour milk; not very pleasant!

By using some bottle tops you can create a lorry, a trailer, an angel, a person’s face, a train, traffic lights, or even a spaceship.

Instructions

Milk Pen Pot

This is perfect for kids about six-years-old and above to make a great storage space for all their pens and crayons, so their desks can stay tidy and de-cluttered.

What is fantastic about this craft is the kids can design it anyway they want; with their favourite TV star, or Disney character, or to colour-coordinate with their bedroom colour scheme and style.

Instructions

Milk Paint

Sounds weird but at least with this craft, the kids really can eat their art supply!

This will keep the monsters busy for a while and by wearing Childrens Aprons they can really enjoy themselves and be messy (but at least the powder dries fairly quickly.)

What’s better, it is inexpensive and you can make a variety of colours for your children to play with.

Why not use the milk paint to decorate the cartoon characters craft?

Instructions

Cakes Child's PVC Apron

Patchwork Cat's Child's PVC Apron

Today, in 1643, the famous mathematician Sir Isaac Newton was born. The mathematician and physicist, who was born at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, is one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time for over 300 years.

He is well known for the discovery of gravity, with the iconic apple falling from the tree to the ground scene as well as experimenting on the composition of light, discovering that white light is composed of the same system of colours that can be seen in a rainbow.

He died on 31 March 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

So, to celebrate the infamous mathematician why not grab your Apron on and make some arts and craft numbers?

You can draw big numbers on card and use paints, or glitter, colouring pens or materials such as feathers or string and decorate the number figures. It is a great art past-time for the kids to do inside whilst on a rainy day and also a fantastic educational technique for them to learn their math.

And by getting the little ones to wear Childrens Aprons, you can be sure that no mess will get on their new clothes from Christmas.

Just follow these simple instructions and remember, have fun!

What To Do:

1. Choose a number, maybe their favourite or lucky number, or even their age.
2. Draw the number on cardboard or poster board, or A4 paper.
3. The number should be quite large and bulky, so it is easier to colour in or hang up when finished.
4. Cut the number out.
5. Outline some fun designs on the number shape or different coloured sections.
6. Using pens or paint, fill in the numbers.

Ulster Weavers have some fantastic Aprons for you to choose from, which are perfect for those grubby little monsters!

Animal Farm Child's PVC Apron

Painting Child's PVC Apron

Each and every family have different traditions for Christmas time; whether that be eating in, going to a restaurant, or spending it abroad.

Another aspect which varies is what is eaten as part of the Christmas Dinner. The traditional meat for families is turkey but many prefer to have chicken, pork, lamb or none if vegetarian.

Some people like roasties, others Yorkshire puddings, with lots of greens and veg washed down with gravy; a perfect Christmas feast.

Whatever you decide to cook and slave over the hot hob and oven all day for, one thing is for sure; a Christmas dinner with all the finishings is a great way to bring all the family together in the holiday season.

Ulster Weavers have found the ideal guide for you to learn how to roast your turkey in the best way possible, so grab on your Aprons and follow our step by step instructions.

PREPARATION

1. Remove the giblets in the body cavity and place the turkey uncovered on a plate at the bottom of the fridge.
2. You need to know how much it weighs to know how long to cook it for. The timings given below are for a 14lb (6.5kg) bird.
3. On Christmas Eve take it out of the fridge to make it be at room temperature.
4. If it is a frozen bird, don’t forget to allow it time to defrost slowly and completely.

BEFORE HAND

1. Stuff the turkey with the stuffing; put about two-thirds in the neck end between the flesh and skin, then tuck the neck flap under the bird’s back and secure it with a skewer.
2. Put the rest of the stunning in the body cavity. Please note it is not safe to do this if the turkey or the stuffing is not defrosted properly.
3. Smother 6oz (175g) of butter all over the bird.
4. Lay about 8oz (225g) of streaky bacon rashers over the breast of the chicken making them overlap slightly. Then season with whatever you like, such as freshly milled black pepper and salt.

COOK

1. Lay your roasting tin, in tin foil sheets.
2. Lay the turkey on its back in the middle of the foil so the juices fall down into the breast, then loosely wrap.
3. Firmly seal it but allow room for the air to circulate around the turkey.
4. Place it in s pre-heated oven at gas mark 7, 425 °F (220 °C); for 40 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to gas mark 3, 325 °F (170 °C); for 3 ½ hours.

DURING

1. After the allotted time, take the turkey out of the oven, uncover and discard the excess foil.
2. Baste with the juices then increase the oven temperature to gas mark 6, 400 °F (200°C) and cook uncovered for a further 40 minutes.
3. Once the bacon has browned you can push it down into the tin off the top and allow the rest of the turkey to brown.

FINALLY

1. After the final 40 minutes, remove the turkey and pierce the thickest part of the leg with a skewer, pressing against the leg to see if the juices run clear without any traces of pink.
2. Leave to rest for 45 minutes before serving so it is not too piping hot to eat.

COOKING TIMES FOR TURKEY SIZES

For other turkey sizes, here are some cooking time guidelines;

8-10 lb (3.5-4.5 kg): Cook for 30 minutes at high temperatures, then 2 ½ hours at a lower temp, then a final 30 minutes uncovered at gas mark 6, 400 °F (200 °).

15-20 lb (6.75-9 kg): Cook for 45 minutes at high temperatures, then 4-5 hours at a lower temp, then a final 30 minutes uncovered at gas mark 6, 400 °F (200 °).

Use the test described above to make sure the turkey is definitely cooked, as please bear in mind that oven temperatures vary.

Yikes it’s three days until Christmas Day!

I’m sure there are plenty of you out there who are getting super excited for the holidays and now that the kids have finally broken up from school, you can really spend some quality family time together at home.

Arts and crafts are a brilliant past-time to get the children creative, imaginative and have fun.

Knitting, although it can be tricky, can be quickly picked up by beginners and is fantastic for making homemade Christmas time decorations or presents (well, apart from the reindeer jumper your gran knits you every year!)

Why not weave some striped stockings to hang over the fireplace this Christmas instead of simply buying them from a store?

Try making some Pom Pom Snowmen for decorations on the mantelpiece that will bring a homely flair to the house; or try crocheting a robin nest to put in the Christmas tree?

Whichever arts and crafts you decide to make, you can always wear Aprons to protect your clothes.

Before you get started, here are some knitting abbreviations and terminology to help you along the way;

ch = chain
st = stitch
slst = slipstitch
dc = double crochet
tr = treble
tog =together
dk = double knit

Crochet Robin Nest

This craft is perfect to add some family tradition to the Christmas tree. Once it is made you can hang it up year after year.

Instructions

Pom Pom Snowmen

You can be creative and knit you own scarf and hats for these snowmen to make it that extra little bit Christmassy.

Instructions

Snowflake and Striped Stocking

What’s fantastic with this art and craft is you can do whatever colours you like to suit your Christmas theme in the house. Traditionally, red, white and green are the most iconic colours associate with the holiday season.

Instructions

Over 100 years of memories hangs from the clothesline stretching across the exhibit room in Vandergrift Museum, Pennsylvania, USA.

The Victorian Vandergrift Museum and Historical Society transports visitors through the apron eras in its new “The Apron Chronicles” showcase, which will be open until spring 2011.

It takes people of all ages through the times when there was the nostalgic ‘washday Mondays’ and when the family used to hand out all the laundry in the back garden to dry in the summer time.

LOCAL PARTICIPATION

It asked its local residents to send in an apron associated with their life to display and to share in writing why it was so meaningful.

The museum received a record number of replies and aprons sent in, so much so that the original exhibition date was extended for several months.

The display was inspired by a similar apron showcase in Myrtle Beach last year, in which the importance and story behind the apron such as who wore them and whom passed them down, comes to life.

Most of the aprons displayed were homemade and of different eras, for different occasions. There are festive ones, cooking, men’s occupational, laboratory, and other.

DISPLAYED APRONS

An apron believed to be more than a century old, has a quirky drawing of clothes pins with legs and contains a large pocket across the front to hold real pins on washday.

Barbara Ferrante of Vandergrift, a ways-and-means committee member, said: “People keep these tucked away as family treasures. The important thing is the story, what it tells us about the person and the family.”

One member praised the exhibition calling it “a study in perseverance, patience and perfection” and another said “It’s our past, and not-so-distant past. It’s good to look back and see it.”

Mrs Ferrante thinks the exhibit could be the catalyst for families discussing what life used to be like, saying: “Today, some kids might not even know what an apron is.”

View our excellent varied range of Aprons at www.ulsterweavers.com.

Today’s society is very focused upon being sustainable and environment conscience; recycling whatever products we can to have a positive impact on the world’s global warming.

The socially conscious and green fashion movements are making big waves, using the words sustainable, ethical and eco-friendly in the same sentence as fashion.

The government is pushing citizens to become aware of their effects on the o-zone layer and realise how our resources are diminishing at a rapid rate.

We are being told to recycle our rubbish, clean bottles out and reuse whatever materials we can to save waste, landfills, costs and ultimately to protect the environment.

Change is brewing; but it doesn’t mean you can’t still have high-quality products.

GREEN DECOR

Decorating your home in sustainable products doesn’t have to be a bore; you can ‘green’ the home in stylish sustainable décor.

Recent reports have indicated the home textile industry to be the most environmentally harmful sector at present. According to the Organic Trade Association and Organic Exchange, the textile segment is now showing the growth in the area of eco-friendly home textiles, as the digits of the consumers are doubling each year.

The future of home textile industry now greatly depends upon the environmentally friendly fibers, eco-friendly dyes and environmentally friendly chemicals as nowadays consumers along with design also look for the function of home textile.

HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

Now is your chance to wake up and be eco-friendly with our fantastic array of reusable bags. You can now shop in style with a choice of Canvas Shopping Bags or Vinyl Bags with dozens of designs to choose from and all different shapes and sizes for every purpose. Never again will you have to hang your head in shame by using a plastic bag!

Olive Sandwiches Being Fabulous Cotton Bag

Recycling Rabbit Canvas Shopper Bag

Olek/Rex Features

Knitting is a traditional past-time hobby mostly associated with those of the older generation, such as your gran and nanna.

It also plays a very important part in survival clubs for kids such as Brownies, Cubs and Scouts.

One New-York based artist who goes by the name Olek has taken it to another level though and created quite the exhibition; a house made out of wool.

The ‘world of knitting’ showcases knitted people carrying out domestic chores such as ironing, having a bath, practising music and sleeping. A yarn-covered car was outside the home as part of the artwork.

The polish-born artist, whose real name is Agata Oleksiak, used hundreds of miles of yarn to knit the gallery.

Olek said she used crochet as opposed to mediums such as oil or canvas as an artistic alternative.

She said: “I feel like somebody, or rather something, glued the hook with crazy glue to my fingers. A loop after a loop. Hour after hour my madness becomes crochet. Life and art are inseparable.”

Featured at New York’s Christopher Henry Gallery, the display was controversially called “Knitting is For Pus****”, and was the latest in the artist’s woolly adventures.

She previously made a huge animal-like structure composed of 13,000 crocheted latex balloons.

“Its use can be interpreted as a metaphor for the complexity and interconnectedness of the body, its systems and psychology, and, in a broader sense, it can represent humanity itself. The connections are stronger as one fabric, as opposed to separate strands, but if you cut one, the whole thing will fall apart,” Olek said.

Ulster Weavers have fantastic ranges of egg cosies, and tea cosies that are of the highest quality. They are fun and quirky cafetiere cosies to suit every taste that come with matching items to make up brilliant, alternative gifts for this Christmas.

And of course, they keep your tea and coffee toastie warm!

Owl Shaped Tea Cosy

Flower Pot Shaped Cafetiere Cosy

With only two weeks to go before Christmas Day we can imagine you are frantically running around trying to get those last minute presents, decorations and bits and bobs.

But no matter what store you go into, sometimes it can be impossible to know what gift to give your Auntie you only see twice a year; your nana who just moans about everything all the time; or your mum because quite frankly you don’t have much pocket money to spend.

A homemade present is a fantastic Christmas idea to give a love-one this season. It takes time to make rather than just handing over cash at a checkout and so shows love and care, a perfect gift which would be greatly appreciated.

So if you are struggling to think of what to get this year why not grab your apron and make a baking jar?

They are a scrumptious idea which will taste delicious to tuck into over the holiday period and you can decorate them the way you want, making them look pretty and personalised.

And they are super cheap to make, a definite positive for those who are cash conscience. Simply buy an empty clip-top jar from your local shop, cook whatever you want to fill the jar and decorate in ribbons, or glitter, paint, stickers or feathers.

Ulster Weavers have found some fabulous recipes that take no time at all to make and are really easy to follow, ideal for those cooking beginners.

Cookie Mix Jar

This only takes 10 minutes to prepare; why not add fragrant spices to the cookie mix to flavour it up? You can adapt the recipe too around your tastes, instead use white chocolate etc.

Recipe

Christmas Cookies in a Jar

With layers of vanilla chips, oats and dries cranberries, this tasty cookie mix looks gorgeous. For a sweet special gift, tuck a jar in a pretty basket.

Recipe

Or why not make some brownies or gingerbread muffins and fill the jar up with them?

For more present ideas visit www.ulsterweavers.com

Timber Cotton Apron

Make sure that you don’t miss these amazing deals at Ulster Weavers.com!

We’re offering you fantastic clearance offers with huge reductions on selected items.

With massive special offers and prices dropped on our kitchen textile and homeware ranges you are sure to pick up a bargain or two via our dedicated online store.

As well as the seasonal Christmas ranges and full current lines, you can find brilliant savings available to buy today.

Ranging from oven gloves, gauntlets, cotton aprons, tea towels, pot mitts, tea cosies, shoulder and PVC bags and many more homeware items, you are sure to find a few bits and pieces to spice up your home for Christmas that suits your style and taste.

Or why not take advantage of the perfect opportunity to grab a few last-minute Christmas presents for your family and friends.

With prices as low as £2.49 you would be mad to miss out these fantastic deals and you’ll still have some money left over in your pocket!

And we’ve got different discounted kitchen textiles, PVC & canvas bags every week so bookmark the webpage and snatch up the offers while stocks last.

Happy Christmas Waffle Weave Tea Towel

Visit Ulster Weavers Special Offers today to get your hands on these amazing savings.