Knitting is experiencing a cultural resurgence. With more than 115 million knitting videos on TikTok, it’s clear the face of the craft is changing.
But what do you do with leftover wool and creative energy when all your friends and family already have enough scarves and beanies? You might consider volunteering your skills for Wrap with Love.
From Alexandria to the world
The entirely volunteer-run organisation operates out of a City of Sydney-owned warehouse in Alexandria – but its impact is global. Since it was set up in 1992, Wrap with Love has gifted more than 600,000 handmade wraps to people in need around the world.
“This year, we have distributed 4,500 handknitted blankets,” Wrap with Love’s chair Alexis Lander said.
A total of 1,400 wraps were shared in Australia to women’s refuges, nursing homes, organisations supporting refugees and people experiencing homelessness, palliative care units and newborn babies.
“We also work with organisations supporting First Nations communities, people coming out of gaol and other communities in need,” she said.
The charity partners with international aid agencies to send wraps overseas. Past donations have gone to Armenia, Bangladesh, Lebanon, East Timor, Romania, Tanzania, Vanuatu, Uganda and Syria.
On the day we visit, 3,000 wraps are being packed for Vietnam. A whiteboard on the wall lists the next destinations: Laos and Ukraine.
The joy of volunteering
Wraps are knitted and collected from individual volunteers and groups around Australia. Each blanket is made from 28 individual knitted or crocheted squares, sewn together. They’re totally unique – and a literal labour of love.
“It takes 150 hours to make each wrap. We get so much feedback about how special each one is. It isn’t just keeping you warm. One wrap might have been made by 28 different people,” long-term volunteer Lorrain Sutton said.
Before they’re distributed, each wrap receives a small label with a kangaroo and the words: A gift from the people of Australia.
The organisation has never sold what it makes, despite requests.
“Every time we have an exhibition, you have people asking if you can buy them but they are never for sale. They are a gift from the people of Australia, to make someone warm, make someone happy and to let them know someone cares about them,” Lorraine said.
Getting involved
There are nearly 200 volunteer knitting or crochet groups listed on the Wrap with Love website you can join. Local groups operate in Glebe, Potts Point and at the Cliff Noble Community Centre in Alexandria. You can contribute a square or complete an entire wrap, then deliver it to the warehouse or a local drop-off point.
It's also possible to join from home. Spotlight stores across Australia collect completed squares or wraps and send them to Wrap with Love on your behalf.
For those who don’t knit, volunteers meet at the Alexandria warehouse on Wednesdays and Fridays to sort, pack and assemble wraps or help with administrative work. There are currently 35 regular warehouse volunteers but more are always welcome.
Bronwyn Mascord, a retired nurse, said the people she has met are the best thing for her about volunteering. But it also allows her to practise her lifelong commitment to caring for others.
“A lot of the people here are like me and were previously in caring professions. I’d feel lost if I wasn’t doing something for somebody,” she said.
The physicality of the work is also a major drawcard.
“I’m a very physical person and I like to do the grunt work. There are about 4 of us that do the packing and it gives us a workout! Then we go eat morning tea,” she said.
Wrap with Love received a City of Sydney accommodation grant.
Published 19 May 2025, updated 21 May 2025
