Attempting a world record can be a daunting feat but when you have nothing but time on your hands, why not give it a try? A resident at an assisted living care home is looking for help as she sets her eyes on the record for the longest knitted chain.
Ena Rackley currently resides at the Elmstead Bupa Care Home in Chislehurst, London. She is nearly completely blind but enjoys keeping active by knitting. She enlisted the help of knitting groups in local communities and as far away as New Zealand to help her pursue a Guinness World Record for the longest knitted chain.
Rackley’s project received some much-needed assistance from a handful of residents of the Tortara Gardens Retirement Village in New Zealand, who knitted yarn links to add to Rackley’s chain.
“I have always loved knitting. I do it every day, I never thought I would be able to attempt to set a Guinness World Record doing it. I cannot believe the amount of support I have had so far, even knitters from New Zealand. It’s amazing and I’m so touched,” Rackley said.
Rackley and Debbie Garrard, Elmstead’s senior activities coordinator, first came up with the idea of knitting a massive blanket but ended up deciding to pursue a world record for the longest knitted chain instead.
It’s unclear if there is a current Guinness World Record for the longest knitted chain but a similar type of project in Guernsey, France, in 2019, resulted in a chain with 1,073 links. Rackley might have her work cut out for her after all.