Cathedral Bigs Up the Christmas Story with Knitivity
Ann Husdon with the figures that took over 270 hours to knit
Shepherds, Wise Men and the Holy Family will be unmissable in St Albans this Christmas, thanks to an initiative from the Cathedral – or should that be in-knitiative?
Every Christmas, churches up and down the land send travelling cribs from home to home, proclaiming the imminent arrival of the Christ child among us at Christmas. Often including knitted figures, they are rarely more than a few centimetres high.
In a new twist on an old tradition, the Abbey community at the Cathedral has produced cathedral-sized metre-high knitted figures. The result, dubbed the ‘Knitivity’ by the Cathedral’s Sub-Dean Canon Stephen Lake, will travel around shops and busy public places around St Albans, inviting people to come to the ‘Carols on the Hour’ services from 11-4 on Saturday December 19th at St Albans Cathedral.
Canon Lake said: “You can’t miss Christmas. The lights, the trees, the cards… but just in case anyone misses the story at the centre of Christmas, we are making it bigger.”
The figures were knitted by Ann Hudson, a Rainbow and Brownie leader for the Cathedrals’ packs. Ann took 250 hours over seven months to knit the eight figures; Mary and Joseph, the Christ child in a manger, two shepherds and the Wise Men bearing gifts. Each figure took approximately 500g of wool (rather less for the baby) and Ann’s husband, Cathedral virger Peter helped with the wooden base and internal supports needed to keep them upright.
Canon Lake continues: “Now small children can look the crib scene figures in the eye and feel fully involved with the Christmas story. We owe a debt of thanks to Ann for all her hard work and devotion to this project.”
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