The Happy Barnet 2020 Lockdown Project
Links to photos and descriptions:
(scroll down to see final blanket)
August 2020
Itβs fair to say 2020 has been an unusual year, to say the least. At times itβs felt like the whole year has been just a few days and at other times it feels like itβs lasted forever. So much as happened and each week, sometimes each day, new unprecedented* incidents have occurred, so much so itβs been hard to keep track. Weβve all been affected one way or another and weβve all found our different ways to try and stay safe and stay sane!
For me, Iβve been at home, alone, since the 12th March and itβs now early August. I worked from home initially but have been on furlough for the majority of time. Iβve squeezed in one or two projects during this time, mask making, mask adaptor making, online courses and trying out new crafts but thereβs one project in particular that really is my official 2020 Lockdown Project; my Covid Crochet Blanket.
It started off when I spotted someone had crocheted a toilet roll following the mass panic-buying of loo rolls across the globe. I thought it looked hilarious and shared it with the Happy Barnet Craft Group. We had a laugh but also talked about making a memory blanket and what else you could makeβ¦.and then I just started!
I made the first square and it looked really good so I made another and another and another. More ideas came to me as things started picking up pace and more and more changes happened around us. I also received lots of great ideas from social media as I began to share photos of my squares.
During the summer, Edinburgh Museumβs put a call out for donations to what will be their Covid-19 Contemporary Collection and I submitted some photos. Iβm excited to share that they are interested in my project and we are keeping in touch whilst I continue to work on it.
The links here take you to individual blog posts showing photos of the different sections of the blanket. Currently the squares are not in a particularity order but that may change as I get to the point of joining them together. Whilst many of the squares are fun and represent ways we kept our spirits up, others represent key moments in this year and can be somewhat emotional.
I hope you find the piece both enlightening and memorable and if you have any ideas for more squares, Iβd love to hear from you in the comments or at hello@happybarnet.com
*surely a contestant for word of the year
Update: February 2021
My blanket is one of 15 Covid related items featured in The Guardian article: Vaccine vials and a virtual hug: a history of coronavirus in 15 objects
Update: April 2021
Itβs finished! This project has been quite a journey, thereβs been parts that have made me laugh, like the toilet roll and Tiger King, others that have been tough to make emotionally like the Black Lives Matter square and the Isolation image and others where the meaning has deepened over time like Captain Tomβs medals which had been a celebration of his achievement when I made it but after his passing also became a tribute to his memory. Similarly as I lost my own granny to Covid, the Angel square has become much more emotional for me to look at. Thereβs been times Iβve had to put the blanket away as I was struggling myself with the challenges of living through a pandemic but I am so pleased I made this. It may have started as a joke to make a crochet toilet roll but itβs something Iβm incredibly proud of now and have been overwhelmed with the feedback from others who have seen photos of the various squares as Iβve been making them. Placement of the squares is pretty much random but I am quite pleased that the way itβs turned out it starts with the virus and ends with the vaccine. I can only hope that will be true of the pandemic itself as well. Finally Iβd like to thank Edinburgh Museums who are accepting this blanket as a donation for the Covid Collection.
