Students Knit World-Record-Chasing Blanket for Mandela’s Birthday

Students, teachers parents and others affiliated with a group of schools in South Africa set to knitting what they hope will be declared the world’s largest knit blanket in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday.

In all 70,000 squares were knit (I see some crochet in there, too), measuring just shy of 1,192 square meters (just over 3,900 square feet). The squares were stitched into small blankets that were tacked together to make the larger blanket, assembled and displayed at the Curro Aurora Private School in Randburg. It’s estimated it took 240,000 hours to knit all the squares.

One the Guinness people have a look at the blanket it will be broken down into smaller pieces and donated to charities including Hope Zone, Zandspruit Crèche, Light House and Knit a Square. Portions will also be given to the school’s maintenance staff. What a wonderful way to celebrate the life and legacy of such an important man. You can check out more pictures here.

[Photo by Sammi-Jo Botha/the Randburg Sun.]

If you want to feel personally attacked by a collection of knitting and crochet patterns as I was, check out the “90s Mod Inspired” pattern lookbook from Yarnspirations.

It’s actually a great collection of patterns for folks who want to stitch up that Y2K look again (or for the first time). There’s an oversized, striped grandpa cardigan! A (crocheted) plaid messenger bag! A boxy argyle vest, and a rolled hem sweater the likes of which I bought in a store in the ’90s and knit a replica of later.

There’s also a section of “Prep School” patterns (think “Clueless,” they’re even called things like “As if” and “Betty”) including a granny square tie and crocheted wrap skirt, and a knit cabled pullover, beret and cardigan with blocky stripes. Other sections include casual collegiate, punk and mod, and academia.

Some of the patterns repeat among the sections but there’s a nice selection for people who want a little throwback for their back to school and fall wardrobes.

Since I had this sweater, we’ll take a closer look at the Caron Cropped Stripy Sweater. The one I knit from a pattern of my own devising in the mid ’00s was tonal blues, but this one calls for two colorways of Colorama Haze, a fuzzy self-striping worsted weight yarn.

The pattern comes in six sizes, with chest measurements ranging from 39 to 60 inches (that’s 99 to 152.5 cm). Clearly that’s a lot of ease at the lower sizes, since the smallest size is meant to fit an actual chest measurement from 28-34 inches, or 71-86.5 cm.

The sweater is a modified drop shoulder worked flat in pieces and seamed. That means the stripes probably won’t match around the body but it’s still a classic look. This one does have ribbing at the neckline, where the original sweater I owned and my re-creation had rolled hems throughout, but you can do it either way depending on your preference.

Do any of these projects remind you of clothes you might have worn or knit in the past? I’d love to hear about it!

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