Wool you have a look at this: knitters have gone al fresco in a bid to bring the Petersfield Poppy Project to a bigger audience.

Knot that they needed it on Worldwide Knit in Public Day, as their appeal to cover part of St Peter’s in a cascade of knitted poppies for this year’s Remembrance service has gone global.

“It’s been a real community effort and we’ve also had some men knitting and crocheting,” said co-organiser Christine Rushton this morning (Saturday, June 14) in St Peter’s churchyard.

“We’ve even had mums and daughters in America, Canada and New Zealand send some, along with local groups like the Dementia Friends Choir. It’s amazing how the project has taken off.”

She added: “I think between 200 and 300 people have sent poppies so far and we’ve now had 600 balls of wool go through the church. But there’s always room for more.”

It might have passed some people by, but today is Worldwide Knit in Public Day, so Christine and co decided to celebrate by having a knit and natter in St Peter’s churchyard.

It was also Strawberry Shortcake day, so the combination of knitting and sweet treats in the sunshine was an alluring one for both participants and passers-by.

“We found out that today is Worldwide Knit in Public Day so with the poppy project it was an opportunity to get people knitting and to advertise it to different people,” added Christine.

“We then learned it was also strawberry shortcake day so we had to take advantage with a little prosecco.

“As far as we’re concerned Knitting In Public Day is just like every day – we knit.”

“A lot of people have come to see what we’re doing. We had no idea how many people would come but we’ve been pleased with the numbers we’ve had.”