Knitted ‘Last Supper’

January 2011

Last Supper, knitted figures, St Denys's Church

Though I’m not religious, I do visit churches fairly often. And what I love about churches is that you can be wandering round having a day when you’re feeling a bit hopeless and cynical and depressed at the state of things, and then you find in a church that someone has carefully arranged some flowers, or, in this case, knitted an entire Last Supper. I found these figures one Eastertime some years ago in the church of St Denys, and want to share them while I’m thinking about the carefully-crafted things I’ve seen on my wanderings.

 

Last Supper, knitted figures, St Denys's Church
Last Supper, knitted figures, St Denys's Church

 

Not only have all the figures been knitted and kitted out with different coloured clothing, and provided with knitted bread and wine, but imagine knitting and attaching all those little beards.

And then they’ve all been carefully positioned, with their heads at different angles. Perhaps best illustrated by the figure in the middle on the image above left, who looks like he’s listening to a particularly interesting story.

(And although I know it caused offence at the time, I can’t help but think of the Monty Python film ‘The Life of Brian’, or any other humorous depiction of people having stuck-on beards.)

Churches can seem a bit forbidding I think, to many people, with all that ‘thou shalt not’ business. This knitted scene is about as far from ‘forbidding’ as it’s possible to be, and one of the loveliest and most heart-warming things I’ve seen on my wanders. I hope the cuddliness, care, cheeriness and knitting skill comes through, even if you’re an agnostic non-knitter.

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