CHILDREN from across Swindon will this morning be hot on the trail of knitted Pokemon.

An epic Pokehunt will be underway in Lydiard Park and Coate Water in which kids are searching high and low for the famous cartoon characters, all of which have been fashioned by a local knitting group.

Members of Swindon Stitch and Bitch have been furiously knitting Pokemon for the past eight weeks in a bid to get kids out into the fresh air for a bit of Friday morning fun.

Yesterday, members of the knitting circle met to package the Pokemon in order to keep them safe from the elements, before heading off and hiding them in various obscure locations.

Suzy Cowper, who came up with the wacky scheme after hearing about someone doing it in Canada, said: “We thought it was such a lovely thing to do for the children.”

Described as a ‘top secret project’, the knitters have managed to keep the exact locations firmly under wraps to avoid ruining the surprise for the children.

“We wanted to keep it all hush-hush because we didn’t want to let anyone know what we are doing until they were hidden,” said Suzy.

“Because we had to make so many of them, and there are only 15 or so of us and we don’t all crochet, we put an appeal on Facebook asking for crocheters to come forward to help.

“Luckily we had about three or four ladies agree to help make Pokémon for us.”

The group had access to 20 different Pokémon patterns and managed to knit 100 of the little critters, leaving 50 at each location.

It follows the Pokemon Go craze that swept the town, and indeed the world, over the summer months.

Tracey Major, who spent hours knitting the creatures before their release into the wild, said: “I thought it was a great way to try to get children off their phones and to focus on something a bit more real.

“When the children can find them they can keep them.

“Hopefully it will remind them of a really fun day they had.

“The kids can even log on to Facebook as they go and tell us when they have found the Pokemon, so we know how many are left.

“We thought it would be really nice on a Friday morning for parents to take their kids to the park and go hunting for Pokemon.”

The Swindon Stitch and Bitch Club meets every Monday from 7.30pm at the Manor Farm Pub in Haydon Wick.