I love knitting and wanted to make something to raise money for WaterAid. WaterAid is an international charity that transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation. In this country we can take water for granted, especially this year and many of us must feel we have seen enough rain for a life time. However it is not the same everywhere and thousands of children die each year because they do not have clean water to drink. Lots of information on what your donation can provide and the projects that are going on can be found on the WaterAid website.
My idea was to knit friendly raindrops and sell them at £1.00 each to help raise money. The first occasion that these will be for sale will be at International Women’s Day on March 8th, in the Assembly Rooms Derby. There will also be the opportunity for children to make their own pom poms to take home to remember how lucky we are to have safe water but also we have a chance through WaterAid to help those who don’t.
My grandchildren have been thinking about the journey that water takes and writing stories about their own raindrop and we hope to be able to share these stories at International Women’s day Derby. Here is a taste of a story written by a five year old,
“This is the story of a raindrop called James Adventure. James enjoyed swimming in the river with his friends. One day they swam into the ocean where they joined many more drops. The drops swam to where the sun was hot and James felt himself going up and up and up. Eventually he joined lots of other raindrops to form a cloud.”
James the raindrop swimming in the river.
Instructions for knitting a raindrop.
I used double knitting yarn and size 2.25mm(10) needles.
Cast on 6 stitches.
Row 1 Increase in each stitch to give 12 stitches.
Row 2 Purl.
Row 3 (Knit 1, increase in next stitch) repeat across the row.
Row 4 Purl.
Row 5 (Knit 2, Increase in next stitch) repeat across the row.
Row 6 Purl.
Rows 7-12 stocking stitch,( one row knit, next row purl)
Row 13 (K2, Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (18 sts)
Row 14 Purl.
Row 15 (K2, Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (14 sts)
Row 16 Purl.
Row 17 (K1, Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (10 sts)
Row 18 Purl.
Row 19 (K1, Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (7 sts)
Row 20 Purl.
Row 21 ( Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (4 sts)
Row 22 Purl.
Row 23 ( Knit 2 together) repeat across the row. (2 sts)
Row 24 Purl 2 together.
Pull the yarn through the last stitch and sew the raindrop up and stuff with a small amount of toy stuffing.
For the arms and legs I thread the needle with some chunky black wool and sewed though the body to the length I wanted. Cut the yarn and tied a knot at each end.
I used some double knitting black yarn to sew on a face.
- Raindrops knitted for WaterAid