Blanket Squares for Ukraine - Free Pattern
* THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SENT US BLANKET SQUARES. WE ARE PAUSING THE COLLECTION FOR A BIT AS WE HAVE TOO MANY SQUARES AT THE MOMENT TO KEEP UP!
WE WILL STILL ACCEPT FINISHED BLANKETS TO FORWARD TO HOPE AID DIRECT. MANY THANKS!!
Please knit or crochet squares, with this specific pattern that has been designed for ease of stitching together to make blankets for Ukraine. ( add to your basket and checkout for the free pattern)
Please help us get involved in a wonderful project through Hope Aid and Direct, knitting or crocheting squares for blankets to send to Ukraine. Russia has bombed power stations, cutting off electricity, and heating for much of the country. Using the season as a weapon is abhorrent, and anything we can do to help is an honour.
* We are collecting both squares and completed knit blankets. You can post or drop off the squares to Loop but we can only accept complete blankets for local drop-off. Please do not post any finished blankets to Loop but to the Charity address below.
In the new year, we'll have an evening or two stitching squares together into blankets for anyone that can show up and help. This is a great way to make a big difference to people caught up in Russia's war in Ukraine this winter.
The war in Ukraine has now created over 10 million refugees. Hope Aid and Direct are a 100% volunteer-led, UK-based humanitarian aid charity operating mainly in mainland Europe with a focus on the situation in Ukraine. It now has regular convoys going out to the countries surrounding Ukraine with very specific supplies that are needed by Ukrainian refugees.
Amongst those supplies are blankets knitted by volunteers. You can either knit an entire blanket yourself or as a group, or you can simply knit a square and it can be made up into a blanket later. You do not have to be in the UK to do this, you can be anywhere in the world – as long as you can post your blanket or your squares.
"We take aid, not sides" is the notion the charity is based around, and they have much experience working in areas of conflict or disaster where people are suffering and in need through no fault of their own.
One of the items most in need during this coming winter is blankets. Sue Hoskinson, one of the organisers of the blanket square initiative, has provided us with a super simple blanket square pattern that anyone can knit.
The pattern is designed specifically for the blankets for the Ukraine project and is provided free from Haptic and Hue, a website from Weaver and Textile artist Jo Andrews. You can read more about the project on Haptic and Hue's website and the Hope Aid and Direct charity website.
We have attached a PDF of the pattern for easy download. The pattern is free, and you will not be charged but must add it to your basket and checkout like a standard purchase.
Loop will be a drop-off point for the knitted squares that will be sewn/knit/crocheted together to be sent to the charity. You can also post any finished squares to us at Loop, but we cannot accept finished blankets by post unless you live locally and can drop them off.
Please Note: Although the pattern suggests using acrylic yarn, it is purely for the reason of being machine washable. This is much easier, given the circumstances right now, of those that will be using the blankets. You can, of course, use super-wash wool as well.
You can post finished blankets to the following:
Chas Storer
Head of Operations
Hope and Aid Direct
18 High Street,
Ingatestone, Essex
CM4 9EE
Hope Aid and Direct are also collecting regular blankets, and other things that are in good, and clean condition. See their website, where you can send these other things to the address above. (Not to Loop)
https://www.hopeandaiddirect.org.uk/donate-aid