Knitting for the Skye Bridge

My mom, Bette Stern, recently went on a trip to Scotland. She and my dad had plans to stop at the Isle of Skye, where some crafters had plans to cover the bridge in knitted panels. We posted it here on Craftzine, so my mom made a panel. She writes:

It started with this post on the Craftzine back in April.

My husband and I had already decided to travel to Scotland from our home in Connecticut this summer. We hadn’t decided which part of Scotland to visit until I saw this post. I wanted to knit a panel for the bridge and deliver it in person to the organizers on the Isle of Skye.

I went to my stash and found two cones of yarn that had actually been produced in Scotland that would work well for the project, and started charting the letters for the panel.

Rag ‘n Tag Textiles, the store where Alison, one of the organizers, works is only open on Tuesdays and I had every intention of timing our visit so I’d be in Kyle of Lochalsh on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Then due to unforeseen scheduling issues, we went through Kyle on Monday, Aug. 24. I sent a note to Alison telling her that I’d have to mail my panel afterall because we wouldn’t be back through Kyle until Thursday.

She wrote back that it would be “mad to post it after coming all this way.” She gave me her phone number and told me to call when we got to Kyle on that Thursday…..and then invited us to her home where she graciously received the panel. We then went to visit a gallery where some of the other panels are being displayed.

Before I delivered the panel, we stopped on the Skye Bridge and held my lonely panel there for a photo imagining what it will be like when hundreds of panels are put there later this fall.

The Highland Homecoming is taking place between Oct. 19 and 31. The panels are scheduled to go up on Friday Oct. 23 and come down on Mon. Oct. 26. They will then be sold to raise money for charity. Stitches on the Bridge is also looking for people to help put the panels on the bridge, so if you’re planning a trip to Scotland, like we were, why not go to Skye and participate in the celebration?

For more information about Stitches on the Bridge, there’s also a Yahoo group and info email address.

Photos by Paul and Bette Stern.