Skip to main content

Special project: knitting for refugee children

Hi knitters,

I hope you are all staying healthy and relatively sane in this unusual and scary situation we find ourselves in. Are you stuck at home with some extra yarn and extra knitting time? Eleni brings us a special project from her mother's knitting group in Wales. They are knitting sweaters (or jumpers as they say in the UK) for refugee children in Europe. Roxana is generously donating one of her patterns for us to use for free, and I will post it here along with a photo of a sample next week. It will take a little more than 600 yards of worsted weight yarn, so go dive into your stash and see what you can come up with. Here is some information about the project, from Stiwdio 3, the yarn shop in Cardigan, Wales that is organizing it:

From the home of the giant Cardigan cardigan, we are reaching out to our incredible community and setting a challenge to produce 2020 children’s jumpers or cardigans for refugee children throughout Europe. 

 The inspiration for the project comes from Eileen Johnson whose memory of learning to knit as a child in the air raid shelters instilled a lifelong love of the craft. Eileen was evacuated to Cardigan and incredibly her first home was at 3 High Street, the current home of Stiwdio 3! 

 This year Eileen turns 80 and it marks 75 years since her time in the shelters. She wants to mark the occasion by getting the community to knit or crochet jumpers or cardigans for refugee children whose circumstances are so similar to children during the second world war. The giant cardigan hangs proudly at Stiwdio 3 and in its shadow, we want to create many small garments to help children who are still suffering the injustices of our world.

 We are asking you to lend your support by either knitting or crocheting small garments (4-8 year old) or to donate wool and needles for others to use.

Please stay tuned for the pattern next week. Thanks to Eleni for bringing this special cause to our attention. I hope many of us can join in!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January meeting and announcing 24 in '24 challenge

 Hi knitters! Our next meeting is this Wednesday, January 10 from 3:00 to 4:30 at the Meadows branch of the Boulder Public Library. In January we will be knitting the hat pictured here. The pattern is below (click on it to enlarge), and you will need 50 g or 1.5 oz worsted weight yarn and US 8 (5 mm) 16 inch circulars and DPNs.  I'd also like to announce a fun challenge for the year: 24 in '24!  A while back, we worked on a project to make blankets for the local police to distribute to comfort people (especially children) involved in difficult and traumatic situations. A great group of people kept this going, and the Lafayette police are still receiving blankets to distribute. They said they can always use more blankets, so let's make that happen. The challenge is this: knit 24 squares in 2024. Each month, I'll share two stitch patterns, ranging from very simple and to more challenging. The patterns are just to keep you interested. You can knit them all, knit just th...
Post a Comment
Read more

March meeting

  Our next meeting will be Wednesday, March 13, from 3:00 to 4:30 at the Meadows branch of the Boulder Public Library.  The pattern for March is this striped and textured hat (pattern below, click to enlarge). You will need about 100 yards each of two colors of machine washable worsted weight yarn and a US 7 or 8 (4.5 or 5 mm) 16 inch circular needle and DPNs.  An update/correction on blanket squares: you don't have to seam them yourself, though you certainly can if you want to. Just bring finished squares, strips, or blankets to any meeting, and we'll make sure they all end up becoming blankets!  Roylene dropped off 60 hats at EFAA this month. There's plenty of cold weather left this season, so the hats will come in handy for families in need.  One more thing - Maggie and Judy from Shuttles will have some yarn for sale at the March meeting, and they will take cash or checks. No pressure, just if you're interested.  And here's the March hat pattern:
Post a Comment
Read more

August: Cowlapalooza

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, August 6 from 3:00 to 4:30 at the Meadows branch of the Boulder Public Library.  For August, we have SIX free cowl patterns that you can knit. Pick one or two, or knit them all! They are:  1. Oats by Tin Can Knits 2. Just Try It by Susan Ashcroft 3. Convertible Biking Cowl by Cris Dvic (can be knitted in a solid color, no image) 4. Cable and Seed (Giselle adapted my hat pattern from a few months ago to a cowl) 5. Simple Yet Effective by Tin Can Knits 6. Mistake Rib Cowl by Purl Soho You can go to the links above or pick up a printed copy at the August meeting. All of the patterns use worsted weight yarn, and you should generally be fine with US 7 or 8 (4.5-5 mm) 16 inch circular needles. If you don't have enough of one color, you could colorblock or stripe and use up some leftovers. In addition, we received a large yarn donation from Sister Carmen, so come and stock up for future Community Knitting projects! Hope to see you there....
Post a Comment
Read more