Knit-working – Stitching a Kinder Australia 

Article written by Lucy Stokes

For the team at Commonkind, the mission is simple: create a kinder country, one connection at a time. Sometimes, that connection starts with yarn. 

Through their intergenerational initiative, volunteers aged five to eighty-five sit side by side in what they affectionately call “knit-working” sessions.

Children learn to knit, residents in aged care, lovingly known as “grandfriends”, teach, guide and share stories. A true connection is built all whilst working towards a common goal.  

The program “All You Needle Is Love” involves grandfriends knitting together hundreds of knitted squares that children and young people have made to form baby blankets.

Woven together by hands of all ages, these blankets are then delivered to ‘Baby Give Back’, a Queensland-based charity that provides donated essential items to vulnerable young children. 

Connecting youth with volunteering opportunities, this program is both flexible and inclusive. Students can knit or crochet their way toward school service requirements while contributing to something tangible, each square representing one hour of service. 

The impact speaks for itself. When asked whether they would volunteer again in the next 12 months, 100 percent of participants said yes. For one Year 9 student, the program was simple but transformative: 

“It gave me something to do rather than doom scrolling, 10/10.”

In a time when young people are often disconnected from community and older Australians are more often experiencing isolation and loneliness, Commonkind’s model creates mutual purpose.

“I think all of us in the volunteering ecosystem know first-hand the benefits of volunteering to the volunteer, but to hear the impact of All You Needle Is Love project from a Year 9 student was very powerful”.

Carolina Puleston

Commonkind was born in 2020 after founder Carolina Puleston was deeply moved by the stories of social isolation emerging from the pandemic lockdowns – especially in aged care communities. Inspired by her own child’s need for meaningful connection, she developed an innovative model of child and youth engagement designed to deliver vital benevolent relief to the community.  

Forget LinkedIn, this is networking reimagined, or rather, knit-working. A space where experience is exchanged, confidence grows, and Queenslanders of every age sit shoulder to shoulder creating something practical and heartfelt.  

With plans to expand into rural Queensland, Commonkind hopes to see communities across the state quite literally stitching together support for newborns and families in need. Because this is not just about blankets, it is about wrapping little ones in love, one stitch at a time.