Poppies for Remembrance

Last week's Hook Up was my birthday and it was lovely to share it creating and chatting over lunch with the group and a few of my friends. The wonderful folk at Washington's Tea Lounge brought me a plate full of muffins with a candle to blow out which was really sweet. I got some bamboo crochet hooks (yay).

The 11th of November is Rembrance Day so we chose to pay our respects by crocheting poppies this week. Neither of my Grandads or my step Grandad went to war, even though they were of age, their jobs kept them at home. They were a teacher, a miner and a shipbuilder. In fact to my knowledge non of my close family have ever fought at war. My only stories are from the home front, the bombing of Barrow-in-Furness and my Grandma's tales of working the switchboard for the emergency services. Naturally war horrifies and scares me and I am a pacifist, but even though I oppose war I still honour and respect not only those who lost their lives in the line of duty but the countless civilians who died too, and I take the time to remember them all on Remembrance Day.

Here's one Nicci made.

The pattern we used this week was found on Ravelry which is a great resource site for crocheters and knitters. There are loads of free patterns, techniques, designers and the opportunity to share photos and notes about your finished projects. The pattern was written by Bilgewater Davis who offers it freely and kindly for crocheters to make for Remembrance Day (donations of course to The British Legion). It's a very easy to follow pattern and for those of you who already have a Ravelry account here's the link.