Great-gran's woollen jubilee tribute

A patriotic great-grandmother has knitted her own version of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Sheila Carter, 75, from Southampton, spent more than 500 hours and used 4,500ft of wool on the royal tribute.

The centrepiece is a metre-long woollen barge, with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh sitting on thrones, cruising down the Thames.

Involving an estimated 1.8 million stitches and about 30 different shades of wool, Mrs Carter also knitted a flotilla sailing alongside the barge.

And she added waving onlookers and a woollen replica of the iconic Tower Bridge.

Mrs Carter said: "I like the Royal Family and am always interested to read about them.

"With this year's Jubilee coming up I thought it would be an interesting thing to do and quite spectacular.

"I got a bit of wool and started knitting, I just got taken away with it."

Last year, she marked the Royal Wedding by knitting a 3ft wedding cake with Prince William and Kate on top.