Crochet group ‘hook up’ to create life-size Pope Francis

A LOCAL crochet group have hooked up to create a life-size version of Pope Francis in honour of his visit to Ireland.

The group, who meet on Thursday evenings at the Stitch after Stitch wool and fabric clothing alteration shop in Ballyvary, held a special charity afternoon tea and cake event on Tuesday when people got to see the fruits of their labour.

‘Crochet’ Pope Francis will be on view in the shop until the end of September.

Helen Burke, owner of Stitch after Stitch, who runs crochet and knitting classes for adults and children, explained: “It was at my Thursday evening crochet group in May that we decided to create a project to mark the Pope’s visit to Ireland in August.

“After sharing ideas, we set about designing a life-size Pope Francis. I searched the internet for suitable patterns and on a visit to the UK in May, looked in book shops, but with no success. Therefore we have created the 'crochet Pope’ by working on it from my experience of crocheting ‘stitch after stitch’.”

The project, believed to be the first of its kind, took four ladies - Helen, Teresa Hughes, Jacinta McDonald and Maire Ni Fhearraigh - 80 days to complete.

Maire, from Ballyvary, said: “I crocheted the Pope’s legs, and to ensure the proportions were correct, I would size the legs up against my husband’s. In the end he’d run away every time he saw me head towards him with another limb!

“We’ve really had fun working on this project; we hope now that everyone makes the effort to come and see the ‘crochet Pope’ in real life as it’s all for a great cause.”

Helen added: “By crocheting a life-size Pope we hope to raise money for two charities. All proceeds from our afternoon tea event and any additional donations through our Just Giving page ( to be arranged) will go to the poor of the Third World, which we know Pope Francis is passionate about. Donations will also go towards research into neurological conditions and the rare neurological chronic daily deadache syndrome condition from which I suffer.”

See https://www.facebook.com/Stitch-after-Stitch-Wool-and-Fabric-Shop-913575118745712/