Some of the women at the Knit ‘n Natter event held at the Craft Corner last week. Holding the rugs are Rosemary Mitchell and Rhonda Redenbach from the Craft Corner and Dianne Percy from Orange.
There was a lot of catching up to be done after two years of ‘silence’ at the Knit ‘n Natter event at Craft Corner last week.
About 40 women from Orange and Bathurst joined locals from Parkes and surrounds to not only natter over a cuppa and cake, but also knit squares for the Wrap with Love project that provide warm wraps to vulnerable people all over the world.
“We donate wraps to overseas charities, but also donate to 12 local charities including to the women’s refuge, nursing homes, oncology department and more,” said Dianne Percy, co-ordinator of Wrap with Love in Orange.
The annual even at Craft Corner, going for more than 14 years, is a great way of bringing people together, but members of the public are knitting at their homes and with friends right through the year for the project.
“One rug is made up of 28 squares, and we have 604 completed so far this year,” said Dianne. All the knitted squares from the Central West go to Orange and since the start of the project a total of 7,000 rugs have been made so far.
Wrap with Love was started in Melbourne in 1992 and donations have been sent to people in more than 75 countries.
Craft Corner members and anyone else keen on knitting are encouraged to drop off their knitted squares at the Craft Corner in Parkes. The squares should be 25cm square, knitted in 8 ply yarn with no. 8 (4mm) needles in garter stitch all plain rows.
If you have any 8 ply yarn lying around at home, feel free to drop that off at the Craft Corner too.
Dianne’s group meets at the Orange City Library every Thursday from 9 to 12 in the morning. She said the group also made beanies for homeless people, twiddle muffs for people with dementia and children with disabilities, outfits for stillborn babies and trauma teddies for hospitals.
By Maggi Barnard
