Friday 24 January 2020

Replanting Australia

If you want to help to help Downunder recover from the bush/wildfires and you can knit or crochet then I have a challenge for you.
No, it isn't to make pouches for joeys or mittens for koalas.  They aren't needed. What we need is something much simpler.
Last year our state's annual show had a Queen Victoria Challenge - for the 200th year of Queen Victoria's birth. It went well. We had more entries than we expected - although we would have liked more still.
This year we are asking for entries which relate somehow to the International Year of Plant Health.
And we want something else. We want blanket squares. We want lots and lots of blanket squares. We want people to design and knit or crochet blanket squares which somehow relate to Australia or Downunder as I refer to it here.
It's a challenge. There is no entry fee. You donate the square. You can donate more than one square if you wish to do so.  We will choose the best of the squares and put them into a special blanket to be raffled off for the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. (This will benefit the entire island community and help to save the internationally important Ligurian bee population.) 
All the other squares will be made up for bushfire victims (both human and animal) in need after the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society Show is over in September. 
We will award a blue ribbon to what is judged to be the best square in knitting and another to the best square in crochet. If we get enough squares we will display all of them as a map of Australia at the 2020 RAHS Show at Wayville.
The details:
     (1) Squares must be 30cm (12") square.
     (2) They must be made from wool, wool blend, cotton or good quality acrylic
     (3) They can be knitted in fingering (4ply), sport (5ply), DK (8ply) or worsted and aran weight. 
     (4) They can be any colour you associate with Australia, the "outback" or desert, the rainforest, gum trees, wattle, Sturt Peas or anything else you can think of.
     (5) They can be any pattern you like, plain, fancy, ribbed, cabled, Fair Isle type, intarsia, single/double, treble, tapestry and more. 
It is up to you to design it. Work out your tension/gauge for your chosen pattern and go from there. 
     (6) Block your squares please
If you want to enter the challenge and have your name acknowledged then please firmly attach
                    (i) your name
                   (ii) an email or other address where you can be contacted
                  (iii) if you want to do so add something about why you have made the square you have made, how you associate it with Australia.
By entering you agree to have your square, if chosen, included in the final prize winning blankets for raffle and all squares sewn into a blanket for use for those in need.  The judges' decisions are final.
Send your squares to:
 
Secretary's Office
Adelaide Showground
Goodwood Road
Wayville SA 5034
 

(PO Box 108, Goodwood SA 5034)

or if you live outside Australia to 
   
    Community Project Group
    PO Box 401
    MSC
    Torrens Park  SA 5062
    AUSTRALIA 

All entries need to be there absolutely NO LATER than 20th August 2020 but earlier than that would be greatly appreciated if possible.

I have set up a Facebook page so that people can see what is happening - no pictures yet.  I have called it "Replanting Australia". Please join it and put  up pictures of your squares to encourage others to join in.

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