Earlier this year I heard of a group based here in Melbourne that wanted warm hand knitted scarves and beanies for homeless so before we went away I did manage to knit and donate some fingerless mittens but got side tracked with other events and thats as far as it went.
But listen to this, when I looked on their website I discovered they also were looking for babies and children’s knitted garments as well. Reading that solved my problem of what to do whilst we were away – KNIT – not the big sweater I had in mind (which most likely will never get done) but small items that would be easy to pick up and put down, especially in the car. Of course thats when I popped out into the garage to review that huge stash of ‘you know what’
So would you like to see what I achieved in that time – I left some of the making up (neckbands and buttons mainly) till we got home and now they are all finished ready to be passed on.
TaDa
13 pairs of fingerless mittens (various sizes) and
14 baby jackets ( birth to 12 months)
Knit one Give one – aka KOGO (an offshoot of the Knit One Save One squares for blankets group associated with Save the Chidren) are willing to accept knitted garments for adults children and babies. There are drop off points (mainly pharmacies) in many places all over Victoria so the knitters don’t have to pay postage to get their gifts to the organisers.
My effort of mittens is too late for this winter’s drive which has just finished but I’m sure will be a welcome start for the Winter 2013. Hopefully the baby jackets will be distributed soon – one never knows what the weather in spring is like in Victoria – yesterday it was beautifully warm, today it is pouring and rather chilly and tomorrow, well who knows, at the moment the forecast is 13c/56f with showers.
Still Waters 
Good on you Cathy. My friend who lives in Ormond also belongs to a knitting group which meets once a week. Just time for a chin wag while the hands keep busy.
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You’re a good woman, Cathy! What wonderful creations to warm the heart!
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You are a very good lady. They look great!
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What a superb stack of generosity, Cathy! I don’t know of any such scheme here but I shall enquire and if there isn’t one perhaps I can suggest it to one of the charities.
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I wish that I knew how to knit such lovely articles of clothing, Beautiful and practical. I do crochet nylon net pot scrubbers when we are on doctor visits and hand them out to the other patients, the nurses,doctors and office staff. The entire chemo staff cancer clinic know who we are by the scrubbies I am always making. The chemo and radiation patients used to watch me make them and then delight when I handed the finished project to them.
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Oh Cathy! How wonderful. Your work always looks so lovely.
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What a wonderful stack of beautiful things for others Cathy. You are a true gem. Here, early each year our church starts collecting stuff for Franklin Graham’s charity, Samaritan’s Purse. The stuff, mainly school supplies, hygiene products, soft toys, are put in shoe boxes and distributed worldwide to under-developed countries at Christmas time for the children. This year the organizer suggested we also knit/crochet baby beanies. So far I’ve made a huge pile all in different colors and love doing it. The knitting also helps with my arthritis…double whammy eh?
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well done that is so good of you and those baby clothes will be well received.
Gill
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Hello everyone – thanks for popping in and for your comments
Amber — I’ve tried knit and natter groups but they left me cold. Loved meeting up with friends yet couldn’t bring myself to pay to sit and knit. Yes I know I’m a bit of a scrooge that way
Sharon – I hope they keep little ones warm and comfortable
Angela – Thank you, that are simple patterns that seem to turn out just right each time I knit them
Maureen – I’m sure there are similar schemes in the UK. I’ll see if I can find any links for you.
Annie – Having something to keep your mind occupied is a great stress reliever. do you make other little things besides the pot scrubbers?
Gram – thanks for the compliment. As I said to Angela often the secret is to keep it simple. Less mistakes that way lol
Astrid – I’ve heard of shoebox gifts but never come across schemes using them here. Must look into that. Maybe you could feature your beanies in a post on Astrid’s Soapbox sometime and we could see what you have been up.
Gill – I’m sure thay are welcomed with open arms – its all done anonymously so none of us is thanked individually and as it’s a team effort I’m sure none of us would want to be singled out.
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