knit and natter

This issue Lucy McCarthy from Knit and Natter Canberra in Australia tells us about her friendly local group

Our group has been meeting on Sundays since 2017 but we have now grown to meeting on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays as well. We meet up in local clubs in Canberra. During lockdown we met up via Zoom calls which was great because my mum and my sister, who also knit, were able to join in all the way from the UK! We have 2,000 members on our Facebook group, but at each meeting we get anywhere from two to 25 people. I think our youngest member is 14 and our eldest is in their 80s.

OUR RECENT CHARITY PROJECT

This year we decided to knit 1,500 squares for Wrap With Love, a charity that sends blankets overseas to children in need. 1,500 squares represented a square per member of the group That equated to 53 blankets. We have grown in numbers since we decided on our total of squares, and ended up surpassing our original goal. In total, we have donated 193 blankets. One of our lovely members coordinated the whole project and we had different collection points around Canberra for members to drop their knitted or crocheted squares off at.

GETTING INVOLVED

On Worldwide Knit in Public Day on the 12th June, we came together to knit and crochet in Old Parliament House here in Canberra under the ‘no knitting’ sign! We were treated to a speech about the history of the sign and also a lovely lunch. Also last year, one of our lovely members passed away from cancer and left her stash for us. We did a charity destash where people paid what they wanted for the yarn and we raised $1,500 for Cancer Council in her memory.

PLANS FOR 2022?

We are still working hard on the blankets at the moment. We haven’t chosen our charity for next year yet but I’m sure there will be one!

Want to know more? If you have a knitting group you want featured, get in touch at simplyknitting@immediate.co.uk.