What's On
Care Squares Blanket-a-thon Events at Your Local Library
Join us at a Blanket-a-thon event and get together with other crafters to enjoy collectively sewing your Care Squares into a blanket, or two!
It’s the 2024 Inspire Charity Knitting Challenge!
Inspire, Your Health Notts, Newark and Sherwood District Council, Dementia Action Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and Creative Lives are supporting crafters to make knitted and crocheted squares into homely warm blankets for people to cherish.
Nottinghamshire knitwear designer Jane Withers has created a striking blanket design to inspire everyone to get creative with wool for a good cause.
Download the Care Squares patterns by clicking on the PDF link here:
We would love you to send us complete blankets but we will also accept 15 cm/ 6 inch squares for our Blanket-a-thon events.
It's important all Care Squares measure 15 cm/6 inches square, so every square can be made into a blanket!
Why do blankets make a difference in hospitals and care settings?
We asked Karen Breese, Dementia Care Clinical Specialist and cosy blanket expert at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust for some advice, Karen told us:
- A colourful woolly blanket is a lovely individual gift that patients take home with them.
- They are comforting, interesting, cosy, homely and can really make a difference to a patient's hospital stay.
- They allow patients to identify their bed on the ward and they define the edge of the bed, so getting in and out is much easier and can help to prevent falls.
- A 90 cm (36") square blanket is the ideal size for covering a single bed, it is large enough to be cosy but not too large to become a tripping hazard.
- Most yarns are suitable for making squares, pure wool however should be avoided so blankets can be washed.
- Lacey stitches and patterns with holes can get caught on buttons and fingers.
- All ends of yarn should be securely woven in and snipped off. Check that pins or needles have not been left behind.
Thank you Karen
Find Jane’s helpful ‘How to’ videos below!
Videos for making knitted Care Squares:
Videos for joining the Care Squares, Jane's hints and tips for a neat finish:
Videos for making crochet Care Squares:
Download the Care Squares poster by clicking on the PDF link here:
Care Squares donated by 1 August 2024 will be displayed in a celebratory exhibition from 14 August to 24 September at Mansfield Central Library Gallery.
Don't forget to fill in your details on the return form and include it with your donation/s. We want exhibition visitors to see a list of everyone taking part in the challenge.
We are hosting Blanket-a-thon events in libraries!
Why not find a regular craft group near you, then drop in to say hello - and get knitting!
There's a range of Online Leisure and Culture Courses from Learning and Skills to suit new and more experienced knitters and crocheters. Click here for a variety of creative courses.
Find crochet courses here: Courses | Inspire - Culture, Learning, Libraries (inspireculture.org.uk)
