Oxfam needs your help knitters!

The nice people at Oxfam want to enlist the help of knitters around the country to knit or crochet squares for a giant baby blanket, which will highlight the lack of medical care for mothers in Africa and South East Asia.

 

Every minute, a woman with no medical care dies in pregnancy or childbirth

Millions of mums in poor countries get low-quality health care, or are forced to go without it altogether. High fees, a shortage of hospitals and clinics, and not enough doctors and midwives means women struggle to get the medical care they need and all that too often they don’t survive to look after their babies. In Africa and South East Asia pregnancy and childbirth represent the biggest cause of death amongst women of childbearing age.

 

 

Each square you can knit or crochet will represent a newborn baby, left needlessly without a mother because of lack of healthcare. These squares will be joined together and handed into the UK government in September.

 

Here are the instructions on how to contribute:

 

Each square should be 9 inches in size and preferably made using double-knitting weight yarn. Please make sure that you use make a 9 inch square – odd sized squares can be very difficult to piece together.

You can use any type of yarn, provided that it is washable. All colours are welcome. Superwash wool or washable cotton yarns are particularly suitable. 

Plain stocking stitch always curls up at the sides. You can prevent this by knitting a narrow border of garter stitch all round the square. To do this, just knit the first and last five rows (no purling!), and always knit the first five and last five stitches of every row with your stocking stitch in between.  

Many people like to make patterned squares. You can find a dictionary of stitch patterns available free at each of the sites below: 
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/stitches.htm
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/stitches.php 

 

Others may wish to use up different coloured odds and ends of yarn to make striped or multicoloured squares. Some ideas and examples are available here:
http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/afghans/sampler.htm
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/motifs_squares.php 

 

If you want to design your own multicoloured pattern, you can find special graph paper to do it at the sites below – just print out a sheet and have a go at creating your own unique square.
http://www.sweaterscapes.com/lcharts3.htm
http://www.thedietdiary.com/knittingfiend/KnittersGraph.html 

 

Crochet Squares are also very welcome. There is a wonderful selection of free patterns at the site below. You can enlarge the small squares by adding a few extra rounds until you reach nine inches.
http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory.php 

 

To finish please weave in all yarn ends on you squares and, if necessary, block them neatly to size. This will save lots of time when it comes to assembling the blankets.

Send knitted squares with your name, address and email by 1^st August 2008 to:

Sarah Blakemore

Oxfam campaigns

47 Park Square East

Leeds

LS21 2NL

Hapy knitting!