The OCS Blanket Square

 Hello friends, today I have a plea and a pattern to share

The plea comes from Crisis the homeless charity and I will copy here the message our Operation Christmas Stocking co-ordinator, Carol, posted to Ravelry.

Due to the situation this year the charity that we are knitting for, Crisis UK, in Edinburgh, is changing it’s approach at Christmas time.

The vast majority (theoretically all) of the people who had been rough sleeping have been offered some kind of temporary accommodation (B&Bs, hotels, hostels etc). The charity will also have a base open during the day to provide support during these challenging times. This should mean that everyone they engage with over Christmas has a roof, although likely a temporary one. They will then be supporting people in temporary accommodation into more secure housing.

This should mean that their guests will have more space of their own, and larger items such as blankets, and scarves and hats will be gratefully received as well as socks this year.

They won’t be running a physical Christmas centre this year with foot treatments etc. They will instead be offering delivered food, and “wellbeing packs” for their guests, which will include any items we make, both knitted and crocheted. Handmade items go a long way to letting our friends know that people are thinking of them at a difficult time of year, and help to build this essential sense of connection. They are planning to include various other items in their well being packs such as toiletries, underwear, gift items etc.

The charity is also planning to offer chat phone calls and digital activity sessions to try and provide some of the connection and support that their guests can expect from Christmas.

Thank you so much to everyone who has volunteered already to be involved. Your help will make such a difference. If anyone else wants to join in and help in some way by making any of these items please let us know here or PM me if you prefer.

Some of us have been knitting socks, hats ane the like all year to donate but I for one was slightly concerned when blankets were mentioned with only a couple of months to go. After a few discussions with friends we decided that blanket squares would be a good option, at that point the OCS blanket square was born and I happily offered to assemble the blankets from any donated squares. We decided on a 12" (30cm) square so that 20 squares would make a decent sized blanket and involve minimal making up due to time constraints.

The OCS Blanket Square

Yarn 

DK weight, leftovers from projects are ideal. Or

2 strands of sock weight yarn held together

Needles

4mm needles

Notions

A tapestry needle to sew in ends.

Abbreviations

K - Knit

KFB - Knit into the front and back of stitch (one stitch increased)

K2tog - Knit 2 stitches Together (one stitch decreased)

K3tog - Knit 3 stitches together (two stitches decreased)

S1 - Slip stitch purlwise with yarn in front

Pattern

Cast on 3 stitches

Row 1 - S1 KFB K to end of row

Repeat row 1 until you have 80 stitches on the needles and the side measures approx 12" or 30cm

Row 2 S1 K2tog K to end of row

Repeat row 2 until there is 3 stitches left on needle then K3tog fasten off and sew in ends.

And that's it your square is done.

For those knitting for OCS please message me on 

Ravelry - mazbil or

Instagram - The_Sunday_Sock

for my address to send completed squares for me to assemble into blankets.

Thank you all in advance for helping this wonderful cause.