The photograph above is one I took at the knitting group I joined where we knit items for various charities. As well as knitting hats & scarves for the Apostleship of the Sea and Seamen's Mission, Alzheimer's groups, orphanages in Zambia & India, we also knit for the neo natal units in the North East of England.
The clothes in the photograph were ones that a guest speaker brought to show us what they need. We had been knitting patterns from the Internet & weren't sure if they were appropriate. I was knitting very small stuff but I noticed that other things being made that I thought would fit babies who were not premature.
It was really difficult listening to some of the information relating to the items she brought. They collect wedding dresses that people have very kindly donated. How many people keep their wedding dress in the cupboard until it's ancient! They have seamstresses who remove all the trimming & then take the gown apart and make beautiful burial gowns for the babies. You can see one on the right hand side of the photo. There were also little pockets and cribs made from ice cream cartons for the really tiny ones as well as a range of clothes for the babies so they can have clothes to wear right up until they leave the unit.
We were supplied with a good range of patterns for all the garments so we can vary what we knit & in a range of sizes.
We have a great laugh whilst we're knitting & there's no bitching, well apart from about politicians as there's no dearth of ammunition in that quarter from home and across the globe!
This is a set I made a couple of weeks ago, but you can't really see how small it was. I should have put something next to it to show its size in relation to the knitting. Sorry about the picture quality, it's off the phone as I had forgotten to take it in daylight. I was taking it to the meeting and couldn't find the camera. I couldn't resist adding the bows!
This is a batch of hats, mitts & bootees. They don't take long to knit so you don't get tempted to put them away!
This is the latest set, minus the buttons for the moment. The church pays about £7000 for a container which they will pack with all kinds of things to go to Zambia at Easter.
Again apologies for the picture quality. I must get back to taking photos with a proper camera as I think the phone must be going ga ga. It has shut down a few times recently for no apparent reason & I've had a job resuscitating it. When I have, it's lost the plot with date & time. They're great when they work but awful when they don't.
Maybe it's a warning I need to get a new one. It's a shame because I've liked this Windows phone & only had it for 3 years. Well that's usually 2 years longer than my children keep their iphones but we're not on the same planet when it comes to spending dosh on phones! I can't believe people spend £30-40 a month on a phone! There again I'm a child who grew up in the period just after the war when money was tight so I have a totally different approach to money!
Beautiful work and wonderful idea for tiny infants. How great that you can knit and participate in this effort.
ReplyDeleteThanks Annie. Have to say we really enjoy meeting up to knit. I was blessed having full term babies but my niece had premature twins & one died after a few days. Thankfully the other survived bless him. He was only 14 ozs when he was born. A miracle really as he was really tiny.
DeleteSad to think of wedding dresses being made into shrouds but at least they have happy and hopeful memories in them. I wondered why people in Zambia need woollen clothes, then thought that perhaps it gets cold at nights there.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what we asked the priest taking the clothes. Yes the temperature does drop at night so babies need warmer clothes.
DeleteMy Mother never learned to knit, but she sure did crochet a lot. She made baby caps and booties to give to different hospitals and etc, and lap size blankets for people in wheel chairs up till the week before she died. She also did beautiful embroidery work. I tried to learn to knit, but that was when I was going through the change and would fall asleep a lot, and the stitches would slide off the knitting needles. Crocheting is easier when you fall asleep a lot. LOL But I never did learn knitting, I ended up with three different size adult booties, never got a pair out of the three. LOL I don't even crochet much anymore. Hope you and family are all well. I supposedly had a slight stroke the early part of Feb. and all it effected was my right eye, I was seeing double vision for several month, and had to wear an eye patch, Specialist said it would probably clear up on it's own and it did. He said age, high blood pressure and diabetes can cause that to happen. I told him I have a triple whammy. Nothing I can do about old age, I'll be 81 in Oct. I doctor for the blood pressure, have for about 35 years, and diabetes the past 8 years. He said all in all my eyes look good for being a diabetic.
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