"We have been planning to yarn bomb Newcastle for some time, " said an anonymous member of SOCK who, like her fellow knitters, wears a woolly mask to disguise her identity.

BBC: Knitters transforming Newcastle's public spaces

Yarn Neat, 31, an assistant stock manager, said she had helped load the materials into the area using a freight elevator a week ago.

WSJ: 3 Die in Cambodia Factory Collapse

About 100 employees are being retained, but carpet-making operations in Axminster are being scaled down and yarn production at Buckfast is to stop, administrators Duff and Phelps said.

BBC: Axminster Carpets redundancies: Staff offered help