Knit For Peace

Thank you FarNorth I shall take a look.

Thanks for posting. Spread the word about this fantastic organisation.

I have been making garments for Knit for Peace for many years. I make adult sweaters, something that is always in demand.

I have written before about my favourite pattern. It's called Flax by Tin Can Knits and is free online. It's knitted top down in the round. No seams, no sewing up!!! The pattern is for worsted/aran but it works equally well in a heavier weight. I use James Brett Marble Chunky.

There are 19 sizes from babies to 6XL:

tincanknits.com/pattern/flax

Brilliant, thanks for sharing this information.

My knitting group support Knit for Peace

I like the idea of knitting a jumper all in one but doesn’t it get a bit heavy to hold?

When my Sister in Law was terminally ill she knitted about 20 beautiful beanie hats at her adult daughter’s request. She is involved with a church that helps refugees and she said they needed them.

We went to see her and this big pile of hats were on the side. I said I thought they had all gone to refugees and she said her daughter brought them back saying they did not like them! She was so upset and felt she had wasted her time and money.

marshmarigold132

I like the idea of knitting a jumper all in one but doesn’t it get a bit heavy to hold?

It can do but knitting on a circular needle and resting the weight of the garment in the lap helps.

The top down sweater is knitted neckband and yoke. Then the sleeve stitches are put onto holders. Then you knit the body and come back to knit the sleeves. That's what the pattern says.

However, that means you then have to keep moving the heavy body of the sweater to knit the sleeves in the round, at least until there's enough length on those for you to twist them back and forth but even that's not ideal.

Instead, I put the sleeve stitches onto holders, knit just a few inches of the body, then knit the sleeves, then go back to the body. I turn the sleeves inside out so they tuck inside the body and aren't flapping around on the outside. I hope that makes sense.

This method also means that I can make the body longer or shorter depending on how much yarn I have. If I have a lot, I can make the sweater longer for a woman to wear with leggings and boots.

Thanks for the info about knitting sweater all in one. I don’t enjoy sewing up so a good idea to avoid that.
I’ll have a look at the pattern and see what I think.
I’ve got quite a bit of Aran wool which you say is what the pattern says.

That's such a shame Primrose23.
Did the hats find a good home eventually?

FarNorth

That's such a shame Primrose23.
Did the hats find a good home eventually?

My daughter and I had one each and the rest went to the MIND shop. She was very upset and didn’t think people who supposedly have nothing, can be so fussy.

Thank you FarNorth for this thread. Our group has contacted Knit For Peace (they are very efficient) and we are planning things for autumn. The website has a lot on it, including a list of local charities who want knitted and crocheted articles.
knitforpeace.org.uk/knit-for-peace/donate-knitting/

Perhaps the people felt that the hats would mark them out as refugees, if they were similar & people got to recognise them Primrose.
Very upsetting for your sister, all the same.

Great news Chardy.

FarNorth

Perhaps the people felt that the hats would mark them out as refugees, if they were similar & people got to recognise them Primrose.
Very upsetting for your sister, all the same.

Each one was different. She used up all her odd yarns.

A nice idea.I used to enjoy knitting for my twins when they were younger, until they said ‘Mum can we have a shop bought jumper like all our friends’😩
I don’t have the time now for knitting and yarn is too expensive.

I used to make blankets and scarves for Knit for Peace*, until I discovered Knit for Nowt during the first lockdown.

*Theres a great scarf pattern on the K for P website for using up oddments - you do need a long double pointed needle, but it’s all just garter stitch, a different colour each row or 2, ends knotted and later turned into tassels and trimmed. So no sewing in of ends!
If you’re a little bit selective with colours they can look amazingly good.

There’s also a lovely pattern for a little mini teddy, knitted all in one piece. I did modify it slightly - added a little scarf (securely stitched on at the neck) to cover the start and finish of the facial feature stitches, otherwise it was impossible to hide them.

I remember you posting about this before Witzend. It prompted me to make ten of these scarves using up a ton of Stylecraft Special DK oddments.

I made matching hats and gave the sets to the local hospice charity. They run a regular knitted goods stall outside their shop in the city centre.

The charity send out regular letters to tell donors how much money has been made from their donations. I was delighted learn the sets had made £100 plus gift aid.

I've just had an email from KfP saying that People's Friend magazine have named them their Charity of the Year for the second year running. They are asking knitters to take part in Make Do and Mend by knitting these scarves.

The pictures are from the email as is the pattern.

Tools and Equipment

Any wool of similar thickness.

For DK you can use 4mm needles, long needles or circular needles.

Method

• Cast on 280 stitches, leaving about 4” of yarn at the end for the fringe.

• Knit across, then cut the yarn, leaving another 4” of yarn for the fringe on the opposite end.

• Join another colour, still leaving 4” at the end for the fringe. Knit across.

• Continue working like this to create 7” width in garter stitch (for a 7” scarf).

• You can make a scarf wider or narrower by adding or reducing the 7”.

• To make a blanket, keep adding to the 7” until the desired width is achieved.

• Each row is knitted in a different colour yarn.

• Remember to leave approx. 4″ of yarn at each end of each row to tie into tassels.

• All rows are knit

The best sizes for blankets are:

Large

80×90”/200x230cm or 70×90”/180x230cm

Medium

60×70”/150x180cm or 50×70”/130x180cm

I made my scarves longer with 400 stitches. I cast on using the crochet chain method which makes the long edges look identical. Nice easy TV knitting.

This is such a good idea. Thanks for the link.

Thankyou so much for this info. I have the Flax pattern and lots of yarn in my stash and I would really like to see it going to good use. That’s a horrible response to kindness Primrose and very hurtful, I hope it doesn’t put people off though.

I and several friends in u3a knit 12 inch squares which another friend crochets together into blankets of various sizes and then sends on to a charity for Operation Orphan. It's a great way to use up odd balls of double knitting left over from other projects. We knit from corner to corner as it is easier to get an accurate measurement that way - start of with two stitches, increase one stitch at the beginning of each row until the side measures 12 inches, then decrease one stitch at the beginning of each row. It's best to knit one and then knit two together to decrease as this gives a firmer edge.

This looks great! Thanks for sharing

Primrose53

When my Sister in Law was terminally ill she knitted about 20 beautiful beanie hats at her adult daughter’s request. She is involved with a church that helps refugees and she said they needed them.

We went to see her and this big pile of hats were on the side. I said I thought they had all gone to refugees and she said her daughter brought them back saying they did not like them! She was so upset and felt she had wasted her time and money.

That’s awful, Primrose. But I do wonder why the daughter didn’t just say the refugees loved them and pass them on to a charity shop herself (well out of town, so her mum wouldn’t spot them!). A little white lie would have been forgivable in the circumstances.

I’m a very basic knitter. I have managed a lot of hats and little jackets for preemies since, but my first project was a blanket made of squares as the Oxfam site said they sold them at festivals. When I took it in the staff at the Oxfam shop had never heard of this scheme, said they weren’t in demand, and that they’d put it out the back with the old clothes they left for homeless people to help themselves to. As soon as I got home I regretted leaving it with them.

This unfortunate Maggiemaybe and probably a case of local volunteers not being aware of what goes on nationally.

Oxfam run festivals shops at all the big festivals - 2024 list here

festivals.oxfam.org.uk/this-years-festivals/

I’d drop a line to them [email protected]

Draw their attention to this:

www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/more-ways-to-donate/knitting-for-oxfam/

Tell them of your experience, when and where, ask them to confirm what current policy is, where saleable knitting goods should be sent to and why local shop branch managers are not informing staff of what is on the national website.

That must have been upsetting Maggiemaybe and I hope a homeless person was delighted to find such a lovely blanket rather than just some grotty old clothes.