Knit A River
From KnitWiki
Knit A River is a collaborative campaign between the United Kingdom based WaterAid charity and the London based knitting shop and knitting group I Knit. The aims of the campaign are two-fold - to raise awareness of the work of the charity and to encourage and develop the craft of knitting.
This global campaign is based upon the idea of an alternative to a regular petition of names, instead, taking the form of a giant river of blue knitted squares which will be used in WaterAid marches and campaign events to draw attention and awareness to the charity's work in Africa and Asia, bringing water, toilets and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people. It is similar in style to the Make Poverty History campaign which was intended as an awareness-raising movement, rather than a fund-raising one (although the latter is, by nature, a by-product of the former).
The campaign began in summer 2006 and concluded in summer 2007 with over 60,000 squares being donated from knitters and crocheters across the world and sent to WaterAid or I Knit at their London base. There were rules of the project: each blue square knitted (or crocheted) should be approximately 15cm square and be made up of yarn which is predominantly blue - otherwise any number or type of stitch is acceptable, and in any shade of blue.
The first major public appearance of the knitted river will take place in London on 12th May 2007 when the 'petition' will 'flow' through the streets from Vauxhall to Westminister, or Downing Street. The river will be seen at other events throughout the year to support WaterAid's aim to pressure the leaders at this year's G8 summit to include water and sanitation on the agenda, and to highlight 2007's End Water Poverty coalition.
