Blankets, Blankets everywhere! It’s the 2023 67 Blankets Local Blankets is Lekka tour!

By CityLIfe Arts Writer

It’s going to be bright, it’s going to be colourful, and it’s going to be local and across the country!

This year Local is Lekka for 67 Blankets. Regardless of where you are you can enjoy these incredible displays. Since the inception of 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day in January 2014 “KnitWits for Madiba” have been knitting squares, making blankets and involving fellow South Africans ahead of their many events, wrapping up South Africans in the warmth of this project. However every year the 67 Blankets ambassadors and volunteers pack up the enormous contributions and send them off for the annual big record-breaking reveals.

This year a national tour with eight big reveals has been arranged and the  67 Blankets team are travelling  around the country on the Local Blankets is Lekka tour! In every region local ambassadors have or are galvanising their ‘KnitWits’ to bring in their squares, their blankets and their love in what is to be a celebration of community, open-hearted giving and the desire to make a positive difference.

In the spirit of light competition every 67 Blankets ambassador and ‘KnitWit’ community is pulling out all the stops to amass a big, beautiful display of blankets that highlights the hard work and commitment of local volunteers.

Visitors can enjoy the display of blankets, local entertainers and musicians and good food and drink. If you are slow off the mark and haven’t yet got knitting or crocheting for this good cause, there will be many people, needles in hand, to help you start your firstsquare and even blanket. Or even better why not join a group in your area that is already meeting to work those needles and hooks.

The Local blankets is Lekka kicked off in Cape Town last month and subsequently knitwits gathered in Mossel Bay and Bloemfontein to display the most beautiful blankets, now it is time for  2 Lekka blanket days in Mpumalanga in Daantjie and White River, this is the fourth stop of the eight cities countrywide tour. 

Every stop has and will be a showcase of hope and the power of the possibility. Visitors and public are welcome  to join either event. 

Following the events, all blankets will be collected and distributed to those in need, through the 67 Blankets partnerships.

Says Carolyn  Steyn about the pending Mpumalanga trip “For me to revisit the Mtfophi Primary School in Daaintjie Pienaar, Mpumalanga, I know is going to be a day filled with great joy and celebrations. 

Memories come flooding back of our last visit to the school where we were entertained and shown all their creative handiwork and I cannot wait to be immersed into their company once again and share in their activities and then onto White River where the most beautiful Christmas tree went up made up of thousands of woollen  squares, that was unveiled in December last year, the White River Knitwits have remained steadfast as a group that produces thousands of scarves and blankets. I’m immensely proud of the Mpumalanga knitwits and so looking forward to the weekend.”

Local Blankets is Lekka Dates and venues 

· Daantjie, Mpumalanga: May 26, 2023 – 1pm Mtfophi Primary School

· White River: May 27, 2023 – All blankets handed in at the Sabie Valley Coffee Shop, Casterbridge.

·Johannesburg: June 3, 2023 – 11am at Jeppe High School for Girls.

·Durban: June 10, 2023 – 11am at the Holy Family College, Glenmore.

· Gqeberha: June 15, 2023 – 9am at the Theodor Herzl High School.