Charity appeals for knitters for homeless day installation 

Norfolk based charity St Martins are appealing for knitters to help create giant woollen house, which will be displayed in Norwich Cathedral, to raise awareness of homelessness.
 

 
People are being encouraged to get their knitting needles out and help create a giant woollen house which will stand outside Norwich Cathedral to raise awareness about homelessness.
 
Norwich-based homelessness charity St Martins has teamed up with Norwich Cathedral for the project which is called The Knitted House.
 
Now an appeal is being launched for people to knit or crochet scarves which will be used to build the house which will be displayed at the Cathedral from 7 to 14 October to coincide with World Homelessness Day on October 10.

The appeal kicked off with a 'knitting flashmob' outside the Cathedral, with a number of knitters and crocheters taking part.

The aim is to incorporate 4,677 scarves into the woollen house - representing the estimated 4,677 people who slept rough on the streets of England last year.

Dr Jan Sheldon, chief executive of St Martins, said: "St Martins has supported homeless people in Norwich and Norfolk for over 40 years. Our aim is to support people out of homelessness and into independence. We want to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in Norwich to as close to zero as possible.

"As part of our continuing efforts to provide more than a home for the homeless, we are embarking on a project to raise public awareness of St Martins and to inform people of the issues around homelessness."

Explaining how people can get involved in the project, Dr Sheldon said: "We need people to knit a scarf (or scarves) that are 1 metre long and 15cm wide. They can be any colour or design that you like, because we want varied scarves to represent the variety of people sleeping rough.
Unfortunately 600 of these scarves will be black, and each one will represent a person who died whilst on the streets last year.
The house will be on public display from 7 to 14 October at Norwich Cathedral." 

At the end of the project the scarves will be sold to raise funds for St Martins’ new accommodation project.

Finished scarves - which should be 1m by 15cm (40 inches by 6 inches) - can be sent to St Martins, 35 Bishopgate, Norwich, NR1 4AA.
Alternatively they can be taken to one of the following collection points: 

• Norwich Cathedral's Donations Desk, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
• St Martins Head Office, 35 Bishopgate, Norwich, NR1 4AA, Monday to Friday 9am-4pm.
• St Martins Donation Station, 33 Bishopgate, Norwich, NR1 4AA, Monday to Friday 10am-2pm.
• Under1Roof, 104 Westwick Street, Norwich, NR2 4SZ, Monday to Friday, 9am-4pm.

The deadline for scarves is August 15.
For more information visit www.stmartinshousing.org.uk/knittedhouse 
You can also email enquiries@stmartinshousing.org.uk and follow @stmartinsnfk on social media.
Get involved and share photos of your knitting on sicial media with the hastag #knittedhouse