It’s nearly 20 miles, exactly 101,633 feet, or 30,978 metres if you prefer metric.

Yes, you guessed it, it’s Sittingbourne resident Edward Hannaford’s record-holding longest piece of continuously knitted yarn.

The expert French knitter’s colourful rope, which has taken more than two decades to complete, has been measured for a new world record.

On Monday, June 22, the 74-year-old, who lives with his wife Rita in Cavell Way, welcomed mayor of Swale Anita Walker and Cllr Gareth Randall to his home to act as witnesses for the Guinness World Records-approved attempt.

Although he will be taking the title from himself, he said he still has to be wary about keeping an eye on his closest French knitting rival – Australia’s Leon Milich.

Mr Hannaford said: “I’m going on until I know where Leon Milich is.

“I get in front of him because he goes on golfing holidays – I don’t stop, he does.

“I ring him every so often and he tells me where he is.”

Mr Hannaford first developed his passion for French knitting, which is done on a spool with four nails to produce a narrow length of wool, in 1989.

Since then, the great-grandfather’s dining room has been home to mounds of the colourful yarn.

But despite already achieving the world record numerous times, he has no plans to slow down, or possibly even change thread.

As he puts it, he’d like to keep that prestigious title of ‘most prolific French knitter’ in the country, and, in particular, in Sittingbourne: “There’s nobody who’s going to beat me – I’ll keep it in England. I’m Sittingbourne’s biggest knit!”