Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office announces our Knitted Together 2 project.

 

In 2020 Kilkenny County Council Arts Office ran a fabulous project called Knitted Together.    We asked volunteers around the County to knit or crochet squares for the Elkana Charity in South Africa.  We had over 180 volunteers knitting and crocheting at home during lockdowns and we were thrilled with the results. We collected nearly 4000 squares and once again, our volunteers came up trumps and helped us to put the squares together to make some beautiful colourful blankets for the Elkana Charity and for local Kilkenny Charities.  (see further details below)

Based on the success of last year’s project we are continuing our Knitted Together project for 2021 and are once again seeking your help, support and skills to create more beautiful blankets for charity.

What we need: This year we would like you to knit or crochet 8-inch squares (8 inches across by 8 inches down) using double knitting yarn (DK) and 4mm needles or 4mm crochet hooks, depending on your craft or you can do both! To any of the participants with the skills and time to create full blankets, we are also inviting you to create the squares and complete the blankets yourselves. For anyone making a full blanket you could use 6 squares across by 8 squares down (48 squares in total).

The completed blankets will be donated to Kilkenny charities and charity shops to help supplement their depleted fundraising.

As part of our 2021 project we will also be organising on-line get-togethers and tutorials for anyone who wants to chat to others involved in the project or to learn from other makers.

If anyone is short of supplies, please let us know and we will try to help as we have a limited number of kits to distribute. But we are of course encouraging you to use up any wool that you may have lying around at home already.

If you would like to be a part of this project please email bernadette.roberts@kilkennycoco.ie to confirm your participation and so we can let you know about the get-togethers.

What became of last year’s blankets

John Crowley, a South Kilkenny farmer and supporter of the Elkana Charity, shipped 40 of our blankets plus donated blankets and knitted baby jumpers from our volunteers and donations made by the people of South Kilkenny, to the Elkana Charity for Christmas 2020.  Because of the generosity and hard work of our volunteers we were able to give blankets to some Kilkenny organisations i.e. Amber Women’s Refuge, Good Shepherd Centre, O’Neill Centre, St. Canice’s Homes for the Elderly and St. Marys Homes for the Elderly.

This project is funded by Creative Ireland and supported by Age Friendly Kilkenny and Healthy Ireland Kilkenny programmes

Photos courtesy of Dylan Vaughan