Published November 20, 2017 15:23
Source https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/CRAFTED-donates-cozy-wares-458889193.html
Over 800 pieces of knitwear were donated to this year’s CRAFTED show and sale at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and now those pieces will have a home with inner-city youth.
Every year the Winnipeg Art Gallery puts out a call to local knitters to create and donate something handmade to the show. After going on display at the gallery during CRAFTED, hats, mitts and socks are donated to the public. In previous years, Old Market Square in the Exchange District has been decked out with the items, tagged with stickers that say ‘Take me if you’re cold!’
This year, the youth at the Boys and Girls Club at Sister MacNamara School, (460 Sargent St.) were the recipients of those items. On Nov. 13, grade-school-age youth were allowed to select their favourite piece to take home.
"It’s a good feeling," chair of CRAFTED 2017 Juanita Giesbrecht said. "People in this city are so generous. I think that’s the best way to describe it, and when the call goes out, people respond and that’s been our experience for the past three years.
"This is the first year I’ve been associated with CRAFTED but I’ve been volunteering for a lot of years and I see that generosity everywhere."
Before making it to the BGCW youth, the knitwear was bringing some warmth to the visitors at the WAG too.
"People were really pleased to walk through our knitting forest. We had nine pillars decorated with all the items we received and one cute story, we had a woman who walked around several times and she was waiting for them to go on sale. One volunteer said ‘No, it’s all going to be donated’ and she said ‘I’m so disappointed because I had three things picked out.’"
Giesbrecht said there was a range of pieces donated although all were skillfully made.
"It really depends on how the knitter views what he or she is doing and some presented fairly elaborate pieces and some presented simple pieces," she said. "We’re very happy with the donation that came out."