67 Blankets movement stitches up a record

21/04/2015. Knit-Wits from the 67 Balnkets for Nelson Mandela Day broke the world record of the largest crocheted blanket with a record of 3133 square mitre at the Union Buildings. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

21/04/2015. Knit-Wits from the 67 Balnkets for Nelson Mandela Day broke the world record of the largest crocheted blanket with a record of 3133 square mitre at the Union Buildings. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Apr 22, 2015

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Kutloano Mankoane

PRETORIA: The 67 Blankets of Nelson Mandela Day movement celebrated 21 years of freedom with people from all around South Africa at the Union Buildings yesterday.

Thousands of people had been sewing, knitting and crocheting to let the Nelson Mandela legacy live on and a sea of their blankets covered the lawns at the foot of the Nelson Mandela statue in an attempt to break the world record of 7 800 blankets.

“It is so amazing to see people taking part in what started out as a challenge. We are trying to break the world record by collecting 21 000 blankets,” said Carolyn Steyn, organiser of the 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day.

The drive to collect 21 000 blankets was inspired by the 21 years of freedom in South Africa.

And not only will hundreds of people be warmer this winter, the Guinness World Record for the biggest crocheted blanket was also broken.

“It feels surreal, as if I am in a movie and I need to be pinched to know that we really broke the world record. I am proud that people came together today to share this historic moment with us,” said Steyn.

The record was 1 020.13m² and it was broken with a large and colourful blanket that measured 3 133m².

“Our hope and unity brought us together to actually break this record. I am ecstatic that our unity ultimately got us to achieve our common goal of breaking the world record. April 21 will now be in the history books,” said Steyn.

Prisoners, schoolchildren, old women, young men and many more took up the challenge to knit, or crochet, for a greater purpose.

Some of the prisoners from the Zonderwater Correctional Centre either crocheted or knitted more than 300 blankets.

With the recent disheartening xenophobic attacks in the country, citizens were urged to do more than speak out on social media.

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