BOAT GETS GOING AT A RATE OF KNITS.

A BOAT decked out entirely in knitwear made its maiden voyage yesterday. Casting Off ... A Coat For A Boat is a big-scale knitting project to deck out a specially-built 20ft coble. Keen knitters have spent the last three months helping to make the full-size outfit - and contributions were received from as far away as Algeria and the United States of America. But on Tyneside a core group staged 'Knit and Natter' sessions to complete the ambitious art project at the Customs House.

Every part of the coble - made by the crew at North East Maritime Trust in South Shields - was kitted out with knitwear.

The sail, seats, life-belt and compass, were all made from knitted fabric, right down to a pair of fisherman's boots, a fishing net, and even its catch - lobster pots, squid and jellyfish.

The coble is a fishing vessel with a design unique to the North East. After being decked out in its wooly splendour, it was exhibited at the Customs House's Sandford Goudie Gallery. But yesterday it launched into the River Tyne as part of the Mouth of the Tyne Festival. And Customs House visual arts development officer, Essen Kaya, said: "The boat is the end project of a life-long dream and to be in it as it set sail down the river was a hugely emotional experience." Customs House executive director Ray Spencer said: "The exhibition itself has already become the most popular in the history of the Customs House."

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CASTING OFF Essen Kaya and Ingrid Wagner in the knitted boat which sailed on its maiden voyage down the Tyne at the weekend.