Millions of mums in poor countries get low-quality health care, or are forced to go without it altogether. Every minute a woman with no medical care dies in pregnancy or childbirth – a mum who would have cared for her baby, carried on being a friend, a sister, a daughter, a wife – and a mum to her other kids.

 

 

Oxfam are campaigning to raise awareness and funds to stem this tide – and they've been doing it with knitting. Over the last six months thousands of knitters have created 14,000 squares, each one representing a mum who is no longer alive to care for her baby.

 

The next part of the campaign is the big stitch up: sewing the squares into blankets. Oxfam are looking for volunteers to help with the making up. The blankets will be exhibited aroudn the UK on International Women's Day in March and will afterwards be sold in Oxfam shops and at festivals to raise money for Oxfam's work to fight poverty.

 

Want to get involved?

Contact Alice Delemare, Oxfam campaigner, by emailing [email protected] or calling 0113 394 4293. Give details of your name, group name, an address and the number of blankets you are willing to sew together and Alice will arrange for squares to be sent to you. Each blanket will be 48 squares large and will need to be returned to Oxfam before the beginning of March.

 

Alice says: “We need the help of enthusiastic groups of people who can sew! Everyone can get involved in the fight against maternal mortality, especially members of knitting circles, community or religious groups.”

 

So give her a ring, and see if you can help a fellow knitting fan out with a bit of making up.

 

 

Posted by Elizabeth Bagwell

Wednesday December 17, 2008

 

http://www.simplyknitting.co.uk/?catname=/Knitting%20for%20charity

Awww..... that is such a nice idea :nice:

Yep, an amazing idea! :nice:

cool

Great, about 2% of each donation will actually make a difference. But great.

We sewed together two boxes of those squares at our knitting group a couple of weeks ago for the big stitch up!

We sewed together two boxes of those squares at our knitting group a couple of weeks ago for the big stitch up!

 

awesome :D I'm looking to be able to knit squares, my sewing up is a bit ropey!! I'm keeping my eyes out for charity projects still.

I'm a member of that big craft website Ravelry.com which is a bit like facebook for knitters, crocheters, spinners etc from around the globe and they are always mentioning different projects, like knitted boobs for breast examinations at surgeries, little bobble hats for the Innocent smoothies campaigns, blankets and teddies for Africa etc. I am one of the mods on the Coldplay group on there too! As well as hundreds of different groups to join it's a brilliant resource for free patterns, yarn advice etc and a way for local groups to find members, plan get togethers etc. About 60 of us took over a pub the other week down near Redruth, it was hilarious watching the blokes faces when they had to plough through a sea of women knitting to get a drink!

I'm a member of that big craft website Ravelry.com which is a bit like facebook for knitters, crocheters, spinners etc from around the globe and they are always mentioning different projects, like knitted boobs for breast examinations at surgeries, little bobble hats for the Innocent smoothies campaigns, blankets and teddies for Africa etc. I am one of the mods on the Coldplay group on there too! As well as hundreds of different groups to join it's a brilliant resource for free patterns, yarn advice etc and a way for local groups to find members, plan get togethers etc. About 60 of us took over a pub the other week down near Redruth, it was hilarious watching the blokes faces when they had to plough through a sea of women knitting to get a drink!

 

the people on brit_knits @ livejournal keep mentioning ravelry, but i haven't yet ventured over to see what its all about. maybe I ought to.

 

sounds like the trip to the pub was awesome :D we used to hang out in a corner of Starbucks in our local Borders. I miss it sometimes :\ but find it difficult to go, as they meet every other thursday and with my shifts I struggle to make it.

I'll have to check out the one you mentioned. That meet up was on a Sunday and our Falmouth meetings are only once a month on a Tuesday evening in a bar in town so we can have a drink or tea/coffee and cake etc if we like. You have to go on a little waiting list to join Ravelry but it only takes a day or two to get the invitation. Not enough hours in the day though to do everything.

I'll have to check out the one you mentioned. That meet up was on a Sunday and our Falmouth meetings are only once a month on a Tuesday evening in a bar in town so we can have a drink or tea/coffee and cake etc if we like. You have to go on a little waiting list to join Ravelry but it only takes a day or two to get the invitation. Not enough hours in the day though to do everything.

 

gives me a brilliant idea for the Wembley queue though :D we can have a knitting session. lots of yellow wool and 100 of us knitting, we can make us a huge yellow knitted banner!!!

That sounds brilliant, my friend that's coming up with me is a knitter too! Wish I was standing now with you lot instead of up in the seats, we'll have to knit two banners!

heaven forbid I encourage anyone else, but someone on livejournal just recommended this site http://www.kempswoolshop.com/wool_specials.aspx their clearance prices are awesome if you can see something you'd like

Oh lovely stuff there, I am addicted to Rowan wool but when I clicked on it it took me to the Sirdar page. I'll keep looking though but I already have enough stuff to keep me busy until I'm 100 years old (not long then ;) ) My garage is like a mini wool shop.