When my Mzansi makes blankets

Last year some time, Carolyn Steyn was challenged to make 67 blankets for Mandela Day.  She responded by organising an event that yesterday tripled the Guinness World Record for the largest crocheted blanket, covered the terraces in front of Pretoria's Union Buildings and aim to hand out thousands of handmade blankets this winter!

In a week that South Africa was not the happiest place, this was something good to focus on.

Thousands of knitters and crocheters had worked on beautiful blankets, to give away to strangers, to people in need, in crisis.  Everyone who has made a blanket knows that you don't do it in a just a few days, and that, for me, is the greatness of this event, that thousands of people had been willing to put in the time and the effort, from grannies to school girls, corporate yuppies to the Sharks rugby team, this is was a collective effort that makes one happy.

When my Mzansi makes blankets, we go big. 

Today in The Times. Photo: Peter Morey

It started with unpacking and stitching the blankets together
Photo: Carolyn Steyn

Breakfast tv was there!

My friend Kotie quickly walked over, as this is almost her back yard

How amazing is this!  Filling up the terraces.
Photo: Peter Morey

Fantastic aerial view of the Union Buildings and gardens
Photo: Peter Morey

The blankets are still being counted, as some were received yesterday on site and more will be received until July.

I wish wish wish I could have been there!

Visit the FB Page for 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day here.

The hellohart team posted a beautiful selection of 67 blankets plus their favourites.

And remember our yarnbomb of ±630 blankets at the Voortrekker Monument last year, plus other record efforts in South Africa?

A universe of Sophies

You couldn't live in this universe and not know about Sophie's Garden, or Sophie's Universe!  

Every day, when I think I've seen the prettiest version of this pattern, another one comes up.  

Sophie's Garden is the brainchild of gifted crocheter Dedri Uys, a SA girl livin' in the UK now.  (Just look at this Ravelry page!) The design was named after a friend's granddaughter, Sophie (said friend being Kimberly Slifer, who runs the Sophie CAL with Dedri).  Most people use the African Flower centre motif, but I have also seen some beauties using the King Protea.

So obviously, Ons Hekel is also abuzz with Sophie.  This is a small selection of what has been coming through Ons Hekel and sister group Playing Hooky!

Photos - Beatrix Snyman, Alet Scott, Lynette du Toit, Melanie Claessens, Elza van der Merwe,  Margaret Burger, Heidi de Bruin, Madeleine Engelbrecht, Wilna du Toit, Erica Cloete, Michelle Groenewald, Sophia Botha, Jenny Botha, Hanli van Tonder, Barbara Celliers, Anita Roux

How do you choose??

Look at this one with a King Protea centre…

How beautiful is this?
Made by Adele van der Merwe

Dalena White took hers on a outing…

First to a room with a view:

Water, mountain...

Yes, the flat-topped one!

Sophie's Garden in the Cape Town Waterfront

Then Loma Groenewald followed  up with a visit to the Union Buildings in Pretoria:

A view over the capital

Adding colour to the sandstone

Love these buildings, love Loma's work.

(A massive yarn bomb is planned for these steps in April, when the 67 Blankets for Mandela Day plans to cover them with…21 000 blankets! This is to celebrate our (shaky) 21st year of democracy.  Wish I could be there!)

These Sophies are all beautiful.  There are hundreds more at The Official CCC Social Group on Facebook.

Listen to this beautiful tale off the CCC…

"My mom is blind and is usually unable to share my joy for the things I crochet because she can't see the colours.  Sophie's Universe is different.  All the fp/bp stitches allow her to feel the pattern and I'm so thrilled about it!  I can finally share this yarn madness with her!…"

--0--

My Sophie will be coming muuuch later.  And smaller.  But a King Protea I will make!

Covering South Africa with blankets

Hooker (and knitters) in South Africa might remember 2014 as The Year of The Blanket Yarnbomb.

or

When We Covered South Africa With Blankets.

We're still happily reminiscing about the Voortrekker Monument Yarn Bomb
(630 blankets going to charities):

Bean there, helped laying it out :-)

Yeay, it made the front page of Sunday Times!!

(Trust me, the monument, crochet, and English newspaper in one sentence...it's something to yeay about)

Wool for the people

...and then the next one happened!

Guinness record attempt, Polokwane
(Photo: www.beeld.com)

Congregation members of the Duth Reformed Church in Welgelegen, Polokwane, crocheted 568 blankets, attached these to cover 1020m2 on a local school's rugby field and will distribute these all over the country.

Here's some stats:
5112 balls of yarn used (100g each)

Cost of yarn  = R81 792

Men, women and children got together on Monday nights to work together; one lady hooked four blankets with the use of only one hand, another hooked fifty blankets on her own.
(Source: www.beeld.com)

This attempt has just been submitted to the Guinness World Record's office, and we're waiting with bated breath.

But that's not all...

Another group, Caring with Crochet, is finalising their attempt to be displayed at Loftus Versfeld rugby stadium!

(Plus there was the highly successful 67 Blankets for Mandela Day project).

Lots of people are going to be very happy receivers of all these blankets.

This was Yarn Indaba 2014!

What a beautiful day!  What a beautiful event.

This was Yarn Indaba, and the yarn bombing of the Voortrekker Monument and today, I'll just share a few pictures of this great event.

Those steps are looking a bit bland and dreary, don't they?  

But we're going to fix it!

Bags full of blankets, ready to go

Marléne and Esté were the two driving forces behind the Yarn Indaba and yarn bomb:

"Opening the floor"

Ah, we were a bit teary-eyed.

Joy and relief. 

There were enough willing helpers, and soon some of us were jogging up and down the stairs with the heavy bags (a good workout!), while others were unpacking.

Let's get going then!

Marléne had the dream and the vision for today:

...and she's looking happy!

Smiling for the TV cameras:

Esté had the honours of laying down the last blanket:

And then it was done.

We did it.

We covered all the steps leading to the monument with blankets that will be distributed to various institutions. 

Your think we were excited?
You should have seen the tourists.  Busload after busload stopped in their tracks and couldn't stop taking pictures of the yarn bomb!

The morning turned into an extended photo session for tourists :-D

"Smile, love"

We had great fun looking at the individual squares, finding quirky ones like the tractors that was also posted on Ons Hekel before begin sent off.

Nothing runs like a Deere.  John Deere.

That's my sisi, on holiday here from Ireland. She might have been the attendant who came the furthest! 

Thanks for helping out, my sisi.

We found squares that her MIL sent from Ireland!

Here it is, Ann!

And three of my green squares:

(Test-pattern for the yet-to-be-decided-on Summer Throw...)

It was great to meet up with various friends from Ons Hekel:

...friend and fellow cappo addict Riesl

...an angel, Mara, whose Maak 'n Verskil (Make a Difference) group took on the massive job of joining these squares and will be distributing the blankets.

...Anneke - she of the T-shirt yarn doilie rugs and twisties

...Alet, who sat in great pain and with a shoulder strap and worked to the end, fastening blankets

  All figures to be confirmed, but here's what you can work on...

± 30 000 squares crocheted and knitted.
± 630 blankets assembled.
Three flights of stairs yarn bombed.
Many tired legs.

Thousands of Rands spent on yarn
(I haven't said a word yet about the yarns...)

Hundreds of Happy Hookers.

My feet are busted!

I had the lazies.

I had the lazies...the laziest couldn't-lift-a-finger-to-write-even-one-blogpost lazies. 

Lethargic might begin to describe it.

Was it the long, long summer holiday?

We had a looong 6 weeks, of which 4 were spent by the sea, of which 3 were splashed in blasting hot sunshine and blue skies - not quite the usual during December on the Garden Route where you'll often have windy days.

Hartenbos has the finest, softest beach

Was it the excitement of planning a new house?

Fourteen years ago we had the opportunity to build a new house, and now we have another take. Lucky to have found an architect who 'got' us, and could produce a concept within a week.

Was it the worry over my youngest's little friend who was diagnosed with kidney cancer the week after schools closed?

He's had chemo, and a tumour and kidney was removed, and is bravely facing another 27 sessions of chemo, but he's doing well, and his parents are absolute beacons of hope and faith.

Was it the overwhelmedness (that might be my own new word) at the outpouring of love and caring from Ons Hekel-members for a fellow member whose daughter had to undergo open heart surgery?

It went well, she was discharged, sent us a message...and then suddenly died :-( 

Members spontaneously arranged for a blanket to be hooked for her mother in memory of the daughter. We're hooking 20 cm squares with some purple in it (her favourite colour).

Was it the thought of the 45 text books I had to cover for school, and then start gr 4 again, 32 years after passing it the first time?
Gr 4 changed quite a bit :-)

Or what is I Just Plain Lazy?
That might be it...

Joining ancient rectangular doilies to use as bunting during a quick overnight break to Rietfontein Ostrich Palace

The tan is still there (plus the extra kg or two...), the plans for submission are being finalised, we came through a week of two anniversary dates and three birthday parties in two days, I enrolled for a year of Bible School, my youngest have lost his two front teeth, my eldest decided he is going to love Natural Science in Gr 4 (good boy!), my husband is furiously training for Ironman, my ferritin stores are back to normal, my domestic worker has gone on pension and ... The Boss will be in town this week! And I'm going to try and stay awake for the whole thing. No choice there, seeing as it's standing tickets :-D

I did manage to complete a tiny very few little things, mostly crocheting while we were driving across the country and back.

Southbound through the Karoo

This flag bunting was designed by my friend Cornel and featured in the Idees magazine a year or so ago.  The idea was to use it as tree decorations (the young karee outside our little beach house), but it also ended up as being used for little yarn bombs. I used Raeesah cotton,  a DK yarn with the most beautiful, solid, clear colours, but spliiiiity, splitty, splitty.  Very much the same as Drops Cotton Light that some UK/European bloggers complained about.  My sis even abandoned her plans of joining and edging a baby blanket with it, and sent me the whole batch to try out/re-distribute.  I kept one. 

However, it worked out fine, and I left my tiny bunting at a favourite farm stall (Camdeboo Farm Stall in Aberdeen), at a get-together with fellow hookers in Klein Brakrivier, another old favourite roadstop - Smitswinkel Farm stall,  a new favourite LYS-when-on-holiday (Needle Nook in George), De Vette Mossel beach restaurant in Tergniet, and Bizarre Bazaar, a great new second hand shop in Mossel Bay.

Hooking my way through  the holiday

There was some left for my tree, with a few stars.

I yarn-bombed the nearby stop sign, as nobody stops there...

STOP now!

And I completed exactly a measly five squares of The Summer Throw that was going be finished...and then back  home I realised I used a different hook size to the first four...

I probably wasn't concentrating too hard...

Oh jeepers tog.

So I frogged four, re-hooked the lot, and completed my purple Anja-square today.

Also the Mt Vernon square, with a few rows added, unblocked here

The anniversary.  We've been married 18 years :-0 Where did the time go?

As we're not the traditional anniversary-gift-type, we settled into the happy arrangement of me going to the Le Creuset shop to get something  "for us".  This year, however, I was ambushed by this chair en route to Le C...and after some sweet talk it now resides in the home office!  So I declare the appropriate 18th year anniversary as "leather swivel chair".

Feels like you're sitting in a hug.

Right.

Back now to the Summer Throw...with autumn just around the corner :-P

It's giving me a slight headache.

Happy new year :-) 

Meanwhile, a wedding yarn bomb

In the absence of anything being completed in the vastness that is my WIP-collection, some ladies at my group Ons Hekel came to my rescue with a beautiful topic for today:

A friend of theirs runs a wedding venue Tsekama, a private game reserve near Modimolle and she wanted a nice, new background for wedding photos - so what better than a yarn bomb?

How pretty is this?

Gerda, Mara, Henta and Estelle started hooking...72 motifs and 80 x 100g Elle Cotton On later, they finished 2m from ground level.

And they didn't even use specific patterns - they hooked from the heart and improvised as they went along. 

Well done ladies - we're looking for a photo with a bridal couple now!

Is that a nyala ewe hiding in the upper right-hand corner?

Yes, even though we don't really have lions and elephant roaming the streets in South Africa, often you'd find a nearly-tame buck or two roaming near the accommodation in reserves.

Interesting fact - the njala provides the dividing line between smaller and larger antelope species: the female is called a ewe (as in all smaller species), while the male is called a bull (as in all larger species) and not a ram.
When in SA, drop that fact oh, so casually before the game ranger can do that :-)

Thanks to Gerda Grobler, who provided the photos

Worldwide Knit-in-Public...Hooking in Pretoria

This week is Worldwide Knit-in-Public Week!

So we hooked, cause that's what we do, and there were some knitters as well, and we chose a nice, prominent, public spot, and sat down at Tribeca in Lynnwood Bridge, Pretoria.

Taking over the yuppies' spot

(Behold the beautiful blankets under the table, up there at 9 o'clock!)

They serve a great breakfast and cappo, and my current favourite everywhere...the flourless chocolate cake.

And what do you say about a place that serves their sugar packets in Le Creuset?  

Le Creuset et le crochet

Of course we were not just crocheting away...each of us quickly hooked one flower (pattern: Yvestown Flower Coaster), cause there was some dressing up to do...

If there is artwork, we'll bomb it!

 She looked a bit cold, up there on her donkey...

Much better now!

Ties in nicely with our yarn bombing over the weekend, don't  you think?


PS...some of the hooking that took place over coffee...

Beautiful blankets in the making and finished

Desiring some One of a Kind yarns