Rose was a prolific knitter, and knitted literally hundreds and hundreds of squares, making blankets for lots of different charities… the kind of productivity some of us could only dream of.

Ahh. The humble knitted square. As fancy or as straight up and down as you like. A long bit of string in a great big knot – but don’t be fooled, a knitted square might change the world:

Clean water

Back in 2007 iKnit London created a knitted river over 2000 ft long to raise awareness of of Water aid international. See all the photos here Can you see my square? It’s in there somewhere…

Curing Cancer

Stitch and Bitch London created a 52ft scarf for London’s Lions in Trafalgar Square, raising money for Cancer research.

So where does this leave me? It leaves me knitting some humble little squares, trying to change the world with bits of string.

If so, you might like to go and see Michael Swaine, who is going door to door fixing peoples clothes and talking to them about sewing. Most of us could make things last a little longer and throw away a little less if we bothered to learn the basics. In this clip Swaine explains that the project has just as much to do with the community as the clothes:

Find out more about Door to Door darning in London here and here