It took scores of knitters and crocheters less than a year to produce a sea of multicoloured blankets in a bid to keep East London’s elderly warm this winter.
When UWP Consulting administrator and serial do-gooder Rachelle Scott heard that residents of Buffalo Flats’ DJ Sobey Old Age Home had suffered from the cold last winter, she roped in her colleagues to knit blankets for them.
“I had never knitted before and thought it would take about a month to make 90 blankets,” laughed Scott, who runs a Facebook page called “Good Deeds Weekly East London”.
While the initial target was 90 single bed blankets, once the (woollen) ball got rolling, 6000 squares forming 121 blankets were produced by men and women from as far afield as King William’s Town, Butterworth, Pretoria and Johannesburg. Yesterday the blankets – each made up of between 60 and 90 squares – were laid out in Hudson Park High School’s massive hall by Scott and her colleagues.
Scott said 72 blankets, each with a UWP Consulting label, which also bears a heart and the room number of each recipient, will be handed to the DJ Sobey Old Age Home at a special tea at 10am on Saturday. “We are inviting anyone who was involved in making the blankets to come for tea and cake,” Scott said.
“And then we will give the rest to other old age homes that need blankets.”
She said once the appeal for squares spread on social media, dozens of women – and a few men – joined the labour of love, some knitting, crocheting and joining squares until the early hours of the morning.
“We went way over the mark and the blankets are filling a whole store-room at the office. People knitted in doctors’ rooms, hairdressers, taxis, camping groups and some mothers, daughters and grandmothers knitted together as a bonding experience.”
UWP technical assistant Lance Pook said he was roped in when the company held a knitting workshop at the beginning of the project.
“I had never knitted before, but I managed to knit one square before giving the rest to my mom to do,” he said.
“We have already started another drive and are knitting socks for DJ Sobey residents. So far we have made 28 pairs with another 44 to go, if anybody wants to help,” Scott added. — barbarah@dispatch. co.za