The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall unveiled a knitted art installation at Dumfries House on Thursday, the result of a year-long campaign to encourage people to knit.
The royals unveiled the patchwork installation, which featured 9,000 squares, over Adam Bridge in Ayrshire, at Dumfries House.
“We are proud to have finally unveiled our beautiful knitted art installation here at Dumfries House and would like to thank every single person who has contributed to it for their efforts,” said Ashleigh Douglas, Future Textiles manager for The Prince’s Foundation, in a status shared to the Dumfries House Facebook page.
“Since we announced the project last year, we have been inundated with colourful contributions from all over the world. It has been wonderful to see so many people come together to celebrate this dynamic craftform.”
Prince Charles invited knitters to participate in the project last June, with its aim to celebrate knitting as an art form and to encourage people to learn the skill. The giant patchwork mosaic will later be dismantled and cut into smaller blankets to be distributed to charities.
The art installation will take the form of a patchwork mosaic and will feature thousands of hand-knitted squares draped over the historic Adam Bridge, which dates back to 1760 and was initially designed by John Adam to give travellers an early sight of Dumfries House on their approach.
Prince Charles’s Prince’s Foundation has worked in collaboration with the Joseph Ettedgui Foundation on this project to encourage hand-knitters in Scotland to hone their craft and turn a hobby into a viable business opportunity.
The visit to Adam Bridge was one of many engagements for the royal couple on Thursday. They have been undertaking engagements in Scotland this week, in Glasgow, Ayr, and Nairn and Inverness.
The royals visited Robert Burns’ Cottage to celebrate the Scottish poet; Camilla then travelled to South Ayrshire Women’s Aid to open the new Women’s Refuge Centre, and later she attended a Women in Journalism mentoring session.
