Knit Aid is starting distribution of the knitted donations in Calais, but with the help of knitters plan to extend handmade donations beyond the UK, as well as closer to home. The campaign encourages you to learn new skills and have fun trying out different patterns and styles, while vulnerable people receive your handcrafted garments to protect them against the extremes.




Shahnaz Ahmed is the founder of Knit Aid. Earlier this year when her nephew was born premature, she began to knit clothes for him. She was struck by the idea of knitting for premature babies, and she started to wonder about knitting for other worthy causes too. We spoke with her to find out how we can join the initiative…



Why did you decide to knit for refugees?

I found the refugee crisis this year very shocking, but it has highlighted the compassion in ordinary people to help in whichever way they can. Many neighbouring countries from which refugees flee have been hit hard, and some of those countries have helped those people immensely. The refugees that make it as far as Calais are looking to the UK for a better life. They are at our doorstep asking for our help. So I decided to start Knit Aid by helping those people first, with the hope of eventually helping beyond.


What do the refugees need more of?

We need more knitted hat donations, as we’ve been told by teams on the ground in Europe that the refugees need warm hats more than other handmade items, like scarves or snoods. These hats should be dark in colour and mainly made to fit a man’s head size. I believe everyone deserves to have access to clothing of the same quality we’d make for ourselves!


Where can we get a pattern?

Our chunky hat, Le Bon Beanie, is available for download from the website, profits going to support Knit Aid. Other free patterns are also available on the website. We’re working on building our patterns so that there are a variety for knitters to choose from.



Are there any other ways to get involved?

We are also running some workshops in London to help people knit some chunky hats with us. We are currently selling tickets for these, where profits go towards supporting Knit Aid and knitted donations go to the refugees. Our first Knit Aid workshop was held at Comic Relief HQ in London, with wool generously donated by Wool and the Gang. There is a video of this on our homepage!


How can we keep up to date?

We are planning many different types of Knit Aid projects for the future, so please check back if you’d like to be involved and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming information.



What has response been like so far?

It’s been going pretty well so far! We’ve had one donation drop off which was a great success and hoping to do another drop in November. We’ve been encouraging knitters to write personal messages with their donations. We’ve really been blown away by the kindness of knitters.




For more information and to join the campaign, visit www.knitaid.org



You can send your handmade donations to 37 Pembury Avenue, Surrey, KT4 8BU, United Kingdom