Arts & Culture
Inspire Community Open 2025: Artists Call Out!
Whether you have taken up art recently or been a creative for many years, if you live in Nottingham…
Published 8th September 2025
Crafters across Nottinghamshire have come together to create hundreds of knitted and crocheted scarves as part of Inspire’s 2025 Charity Knitting Challenge, Wrapped!
Over five hundred colourful scarves are currently on display at Inspire West Bridgford Library, which will be donated at the end of this month to Trussell to help people in need this winter. Now in its ninth year, Inspire’s annual knitting challenge shines a spotlight on how wonderfully close-knit communities across Nottinghamshire are, inviting people of all ages and abilities to pick up their needles and crochet hooks for a good cause.
This year, crafters were challenged to knit or crochet infinity scarves, either by sending in their own unique designs or by using the pattern specially created by Nottinghamshire knitwear designer Jane Withers for the challenge. The response to Inspire’s annual call-out is always phenomenal and this year has been no exception. The challenge draws hundreds of people from various community groups, including the local Women’s Institute and Inspire’s various Knit and Natter library groups, to knit, chat and craft their own woolly works of art.
The 2025 challenge has been supported by Mansfield Building Society and Nottinghamshire County Council, alongside our partners at Trussell and Creative Lives. Visitors and local crafters can get wrapped up in the results of this year’s challenge and see all the scarves on display at West Bridgford Library until Monday 29 September, before they become warm gifts this autumn.
A huge thank you to all our incredible knitters! Every year we are inspired by the generosity and creativity of Nottinghamshire’s crafting community. Wrapped is a wonderful example of people coming together to share their time and skills and raise valuable support for local charities. It’s always a joy to see one of our library galleries full of woolly masterpieces at the end of each project.
Exhibition dates:
West Bridgford Library
Saturday 16 August – Monday 29 September
Celebration event date:
West Bridgford Library Gallery
Tuesday 16 September, 1:30pm – 3pm
Further information about the exhibition is available in our What's On calendar: Wrapped Exhibition | Inspire - Culture, Learning, Libraries
Find out more about Inspire’s 2025 Wrapped Knitting Challenge: Wrapped | Inspire - Culture, Learning, Libraries
