Municipality knits world’s biggest sweater to promote energy efficency

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

The gigantic sweater was later suspended from the municipal building. DHA photo

Istanbul’s Bayrampaşa municipality has found a peculiar way to draw attention to the issue of wasted energy: By making the largest sweater ever knit. 

A local business leaders’ association that promoted the event noted that Canadians celebrate “National Sweater Day” every year on Feb. 9 and said that if everyone put on sweaters, less energy would be diverted to heating. 
 
The gigantic sweater, which entered the Guinness Book of Records with its dimensions of 46 meters by 16 meters, was later suspended from the municipal building. 


Some 500 kilograms of thread were used on the massive garment, which took 30 days to knit, Bayrampaşa Mayor Atilla Aydıner said. 
 
EU Minister Egemen Bağış also participated in the event before heading to France, where he will meet his counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve. 


Bağış, who was offered a human-size replica of the sweater as well as a sweater with his own picture, used the occasion to send a message to EU members that do not favor Turkish membership with a play on words. “Don’t knit a sweater on your own or you will stay underneath it,” he said likely referring to the popular saying “don’t knit a sock on someone’s head,” meaning do not secretly plot against anyone.