A 93-year-old great-great-grandmother dubbed the ‘Knitting Queen’ has created a massive six-foot-long replica of Buckingham Palace, made out of wool.
Margaret Seaman, of Caistor-on-Sea in Norfolk, took eight months to weave the six-foot-long model of Her Majesty’s main London residence.
Margaret started in the trade just 10 years ago and has been rightly awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her achievements.
She has gone on to raise over £100,000 ($120,000) for charity through her trade and now she is being stopped on the street due to her new celebrity status.
His most recent creation, the shaggy Buckingham Palace, has been painstakingly constructed over months using Styrofoam blocks for the framework and wiring to create the doors.
It features little guards in bearskin hats and pedestrians looking up at the grand palace.
It sits at an impressive six feet six inches long and five feet wide.
It is now on display in The Forum at the Norfolk Makers Festival in Norwich, where Margaret hopes to raise money for the new children’s hospice at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambs.
Margaret, is the mother of four children, a grandmother of 13, a great-grandmother of two, and a great-great-grandmother of one lucky 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 of it.
‘Now when I sit in the car while we’re gone, people knock on my window and say, ‘are you the knitting lady?’ But I don’t feel different, I’m still Margaret.
Margaret started knitting after losing her husband Fred Seaman to prostate cancer at age 86 in 2013.
She joined a company knitting club and had only made odd knits for her grandchildren before.
The retired amusement park owner rose to fame after spending 13-hour days creating the royal Sandringham Palace in Norfolk in 2019, complete with stables.
Then she got bored during the Covid-19 pandemic and turned 34 balls of yarn into an NHS Knittinghale Hospital.
He lost count of how many balls of yarn he used for Buckingham Palace, estimating that “at least 100” were used, donated by Wool Warehouse.
Margaret, who lives with her daughter, Tricia Seaman, 74, said: “Usually I knit for about eight or nine hours during the day and then go to bed at 9pm and knit for another three to four hours.”
‘I usually don’t go to sleep until around 1am…sometimes 2am at the moment with so much going on!
‘It’s all in my head normally, I don’t stop to write things down. I always think it’s a waste of time.
“I start in one piece, work up to the point, and then if I get stuck and can’t think of what to do next, I’ll drop it and start something else.
“Usually I have five or six pieces going at the same time and work on what my brain tells me to do.”
By displaying his incredible works, he has raised over £100,000 ($120,000) for various causes and has just donated £10,000 ($12,100) to three major Norfolk hospitals.
Despite the adoration he has received, he will not commit to creating any more royal estates, saying the intricate detail on the door was the hardest to do.
She said: ‘It still amazes me that people are so interested in my knitting.
“I love big challenges and I like to keep myself busy. I never dreamed it would lead to all this excitement.
Norfolk Makers Festival producer Jayne Evans said she was not surprised when Margaret received a BEM for her Knitted Sandringham.
She said: ‘Margaret has wowed the crowds at our Festival for years, each time surprising us all with her creativity, vision, dedication and energy.
“She is a role model for both the older people and the younger generations and has become a beloved grandmother to me.
‘Everyone at The Forum is delighted to be bestowed this honour. It was well deserved.
She also received the ‘Oldie Champion Knitter of the Year’ award from Oldie Magazine and presented by the Duchess of Cornwall in 2021.
It’s even featured in a book published by Captain Tom’s family called One Hundred Reasons to Hope.
Knitted Buckingham can be seen at the Norfolk Makers Festival from March 8-19 at The Forum in Norwich, Norfolk.
