A WOMAN has turned her pastime of knitting in front of the television into a snuggly part-time business.
Tracey Chapman, from Stainton Grove, likes to keep busy, even when she is relaxing watching television in the evenings. So prolific is her skill with a set of needles that she launched That Hat in the summer. And you could be forgiven for thinking there would be little demand for woollen pom-pom hats when temperatures soared at last month’s Eggleston Show – but you would be wrong.
Ms Chapman’s hand-knitted, multi-coloured creations went down a storm with weather savvy residents keen to snap up a snazzy hat for the cooler autumn and winter months.
The keen crafter was taught to knit by her mother and grandmother.
“Who doesn’t like a bobble hat?” she said. “I do like to be busy, even when I’m watching TV, I have to have my hands busy and I like to be creative.”
Ms Chapman, who also works part time at Andalucía, added: “I started making the hats over the summer, selling them through my social media page.”
Needless to say, the multi-coloured hats were a hit. Since then, she has attended agricultural shows.
“I’m hoping to do flat caps and trilbies as well using recycled materials. I have a lot of hair and I usually find I can’t get a hat to fit with all my hair, so that’s the aim.
“The flat caps and trilbies will be made out of old tweed jackets so it’ll be a bit of recycling and repurposing. I have got patterns and I’m going to be trialling them first.”
Ms Chapman has plans to expand her part-time business, creating a website but wants to get more established first.
“At the moment I’m looking at doing more craft fairs and shows as the reaction has been great, but I will have an online shop as well at some point.” For more information on That Hat visit https://bit.ly/3URoo7Q
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
