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A 93-year-old great-great grandmother dubbed the ‘Queen of Knitting’ has created a massive six-foot long replica of Buckingham Palace – out of wool.
Margaret Seaman, from Caistor-on-Sea in Norfolk, took eight months to knit the six-foot-long model of His Majesty’s main residence in London.
Margaret only took up the craft 10 years ago and has aptly been awarded the British Empire medal (BEM) for her achievements.
She has gone on to raise over £100,000 ($120,000) for charities through her craft and now gets stopped on the street because of her new celebrity status.
Her most recent creation, the woolly Buckingham Palace, has been lovingly built over months with polystyrene blocks for structure and wiring to create the gates.
It features tiny guards with bear-skin hats and pedestrians staring up at the grand palace.
It sits at an impressive six foot six inches long and five-feet wide.
It is now standing on display at The Forum in Norwich’s Norfolk Makers Festival where Margaret hopes to raise money for the new children’s hospice in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambs.
Margaret, is a mother to four, grandmother to 13, great-grandmother to two and a great-great-grandmother to one lucky little boy.
The proud nan said: ‘I find it hard to walk, my gardening and walking days are over but I can sit and knit and raise money for good causes. I’m afraid I’m a celebrity now- I’m very proud to be.
‘Now when I sit in the car whilst we’re out people knock on my window and say, ‘are you the lady that does the knitting?’ But I don’t feel any different- I’m still Margaret.’
Margaret took up knitting after she lost her husband Fred Seaman to prostate cancer when he was 86 in 2013.
She joined a knitting club for the company, having only made odd knits for the grandchildren before.
The retired amusement park owner rose to fame after she spent 13 hours a day creating the royal Sandringham Palace in Norfolk in 2019, complete with stables.
She then got bored during the Covid-19 pandemic and turned 34 balls of wool into an NHS Knittinghale Hospital.
She lost count of how many balls of wool she used for Buckingham Palace, estimating ‘at least 100’ balls were used, donated from the Wool Warehouse.
Margaret who lives with her daughter, Tricia Seaman, 74, said: ‘I usually knit for about eight or nine hours during the day and then I go to bed at 9pm and I knit for another three or four hours.
‘I don’t normally go to sleep until about 1am… 2am sometimes at the moment with so much to do!
‘It’s all in my head normally, I don’t stop to write things down. I always think that’s a waste of time.
‘I start on a piece, work so far on it and then if I get stuck and can’t think what to do next, I leave it and start on something else.
‘Usually I’ve got five or six pieces on the go at the same time and I work on whichever one my brain tells me to do.’
By displaying her incredible works she has raised over £100,000 ($120,000) for different causes and has just donated £10,000 ($12,100) to the three major hospitals in Norfolk.
Despite the adoration she has received she won’t commit to creating any more of the royal estates, saying the intricate gate detail was the hardest thing to make.
She said: ‘It still amazes me that people are so interested in my knitting.
‘I just love a big challenge and I like to keep myself busy. I never dreamed it would lead to all this excitement.’
The Producer of the Norfolk Makers Festival, Jayne Evans, said she was not shocked when Margaret was awarded a BEM for her Knitted Sandringham.
She said: ‘Margaret has wowed the crowds at our Festival for years now, each time amazing us all with her creativity, vision, dedication and energy.
‘She is a role model for both older people and younger generations and has become like a dear Grandmother to me.
‘Everyone at The Forum is thrilled that she is being awarded this honor. It was well deserved.’
She was also awarded the ‘Oldie Champion Knitter of the Year’ bestowed by the Oldie Magazine and presented by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2021.
She even features in a book published by Captain Tom’s family, called One Hundred Reasons to Hope.
Knitted Buckingham can be viewed at Norfolk Makers Festival from March 8 – March 19 at The Forum in Norwich, Norfolk.
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