Rebecca Hopkinson Knitting & Textile Art

14/05/2026

Activities this week include attending the RHS horticulture careers fair, having a free tour of the garden and saving us £18:40 each😃😃Also meeting RHS staff and visiting Harlow Carr garden centre.
It gave me some insight into careers with the RHS ,notably you need to have some horticulture careers qualifications to apply for jobs with them and it’s a very popular career option of which jobs don’t come up often.

It was useful and has given me things to think about

I especially liked the Alpine and cactus greenhouse.

It was interesting listening to talks. The garden is constantly evolving as there at the forefront of innovation and sustainability.

Had a look round the garden centre.
Houseplants are a particular favourite area of mine.
They had their own woodland of which I didn’t get chance to look round. I’d say we walked around 30% of the garden so I didn’t get to see all of it.

04/05/2026

This past month I have joined the RSPB and Yorkshire wildlife trust officially as a volunteer. 😊

I also enjoyed a trip to forest gardens in Leeds and as part of a permaculture course.
The trip was interesting and we had a tour of the gardens learning about edible perennial plants , green manure and orchards, soli blockers and AirPods- these are the photos of the black bubble textured plastic , used to help seeds root and germinate

https://www.bedfordfields.co.uk/?fbclid=IwVERDUARlkDVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeUVxNb9c1O_m4yK-IxTVk5LUtKyuFC-4gNiyR0g9heSjEj3yemUAeErZKPbQ_aem_vl7dLmhrPMnwu6hp6EA9jA

It gave us lots of ideas to bring back to My favourite section was the little mini beast🐞🐞trail

A week later it was 🌍 at our annual global event focused on environmental protection and climate action. We had crafts, sunflower planting and tours of the garden. The 2026 theme is "Our Power, Our Planet,".

Bedford Fields Community Forest Garden is an open access garden in Woodhouse, LS6, that aims to educate people on how forest gardening can be a viable alternative to food production, resilient to climactic and social change.

04/04/2026

Must say feels like I saw some of these at Tropical world! 😀

03/04/2026

Hello, I’m back and I promise to keep this page updated this year with my creative endeavours!
Unable to add photos at the moment

Payed a visit to Tropical World today the first time in 4 years. I came here to do research for my undergraduate degree in tropical plants back in 2018. I replicated the tropical plants I saw in textile techniques. ( felting, weaving, knitting,) to make a modern day tapestry 🧶.

I only wish I had been at a much quieter time to have a better experience. It was all excited children, families and parents.

One thing that kept surprising me was the small miniature size of the animals. I always imagine them to be much larger from watching documentaries.

We didn’t see many butterflies until the end 🦋 when we were leaving.

It was interesting to find out about there educational workshops

https://lnkd.in/eYFZQin2.

And research and conservation

https://lnkd.in/eZJnmhsu

Key facts about Tropical World:
Conservation: Partners with Nature's SAFE to run one of the world's first living biobanks for wildlife conservation.

Education: Offers curriculum-linked workshops for schools (EYFS, KS1, KS2) focusing on rainforests and habitats.

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

02/07/2022

Had a lovely and busy day in my first solo exhibition as part of Horsforth walk of art. Delivered finger knitting lessons to children and adults. 🧶💚💜😃Fun day at work 😎someone has made some crochet and left the pink crochet thimble like shape which I found on a chair 🪑

21/06/2022

After a long break……💚I am looking forward to having my knitted heads displayed solo as part of the Horsforth walk of Art community arts festival the first weekend in July. My work can be seen at Horsforth library.
I made this work in 2019 and years before. The walk of art was cancelled in 2020. The theme is Many leaves, one Tree. 😃🌳☘️🌿💚

Http://Horsforth-woa.org/woa-2022
Http://www.Facebook.com/Horsforthwalkofart/

Horsforth Walk of Art 2nd-3rd July 2022 Participating Artists and Musicians 2022 Exhibitions and Special Events 2022 Workshops and Activities 2022

31/03/2020

(Carried on from previous post) 💖💝
'Medusa' ©️ 2017
Poor image quality due to having them on an email attachment.

31/03/2020

MY BIG REVEAL! - nearly 1 year and a half later)
💝💖

I am really excited to have finally finished a large knitting project, posting photos and writing about my finished knitted wigs and doing my big reveal after talking about this for so long!

I was given some wool from a friend that works for Stylecraft yarns last year, I was given the wool on the condition I would make something and blog about it. I thought about lots of things I could make such as a blanket or a circular rug/ placemats all things I could easily knit

May 19th 2019 diary entry:

The original idea came from a knitted wig I made in 2011 whilst at university on an exhibition. They are finger knitted as I can't knit properly or read a pattern. I made 'Medusa' in 2011 ( see photo) the idea came from buying some fairly cheap chunky knitted wool. After finger knitting I realised they look like brown hair and dreadlocks- and I was really pleased with the result. I then set about finding something I could attach them to such as a polystrene mannequin head and pinned the knitted lengths to. I was really pleased how effective they turned out and what I thought was an original and creative way of using the wool. So I did the finger knitting with stylecraft wool. I matched colours and decided to make several heads which would later become a collection of heads a family which I would later name 'Medusa sisters'. I bought some acrylic paint from hobby craft in pink which I sponged onto the polystyrene head with a brush. This just went all blotchy and I didn't like the result . I also found out this would melt the polystrene. So I looked on YouTube videos for ideas and decided to cover the heads with pretty scrapbook papers. I bought a black velvet head which saved me decorating one of them.

I explored lots of ideas in a diary how to display them, for the highest visual impact from doing a photo shoot in a woodland as hanging organic forms . I even decided on the woodland Shibden Hall where I went for a walk. I looked at displaying them in a glass cabinet in a gallery at the Piece Hall in Halifax for a Bronte Festival , or on mannequins suspended from a height or draping on the floor as installation pieces/performance pieces. I came up with so many ideas and had ambitious plans. I did set myself a timescale and a budget but with no help and limited resources to get somewhere to photo them this didn't happen. I have always wanted these to be interactive as they are tactile and inviting to touch. I even considered doing workshops showing people how to make them. One of the reasons it took me so long to complete was the difficulty in displaying them I came across.
🧶🧵🎨🎭🖼🧩

The colours of wool I used are StyleCraft Dk:
🧶🧶🧶🧵🧵
2x Batik Swirl
1x 3733 Rainbow
And from what I can remember
2x 1003 Aster chunky
2x 1081 Saffron
2x 1062 Teal

Inspiration:

Lou Baker loubakerartist.co.uk
Lucy 24 www.attic24.typepad.com
The Hepworth Gallery exhibition 'Disobedient Bodies' March 2017
LittleDandelion.com

Instagram









All images are copyrighted and the property of Rebecca Hopkinson. Should you wish to use any or part of my images you will need to gain permission from myself.
Rebecca Hopkinson ©️2020

09/12/2019

Finished this Christmas wreath last night and then I ran out of wool) !, makes my door look Christmassy x
🎄🎀🎁

31/10/2019

My blanket is finally finished 2 years after I started it. It's not perfect but I love it)
🧡🛍🙂🧤
Relieved and happy!