See the World’s Biggest Stocking Hand Stitched for a Good Cause
Santa will have some weighty competition this year: The official Guinness Book of World Records’ “World’s Biggest Stocking” is giving the gift of a college education to children of fallen U.S. military personnel.
Weighing in at 1,600 pounds, the stocking has helped raise more than $100,000 for Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation—an organization providing scholarships for those who lost their parents in the line of duty—since the idea for the patchwork creation was first formulated about a year ago.
Brand yarn company Caron United sent out the ask for help on Veterans Day last year, inviting sewers from around the world to knit and crochet three-foot-by-three-foot blankets for the massive project. For each skein of Caron United yarn used, the company donated 15 cents to the military charity.
More than 1,100 people from the U.S. and Canada (and one person from Ireland) mailed in their blankets for the cause, according to the blog of Caron’s parent company, Yarnspirations.
All stitched together, the stocking measures 139 feet tall and 74-and-a-half feet wide. The patchwork project will be publicly displayed during a Christmas festival in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Following the festival, the company plans to take apart the stocking and redistribute the original blanket creations to military hospitals such as Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Related stories on TakePart:
• Traumatized Vets Are Finding Hope in Special Courts
• The Faces of 36 People You Might Not Think Are Veterans
• Serving With Purpose: These Soldiers Made History for Women in the Military
Original article from TakePart
