My mum has been extremely busy knitting these beautiful hats for all of the cold headed little babies who are being born in Christchurch at the moment. I've done a few, but Mum has been a trooper and has been churning them out nightly.
Wondering where to send them all, I decided to contact Plunket. In New Zealand, Plunket is the most wonderful organisation of nurses, looking after all of the mums and children of the country. They check up on you regularly (in the most caring and nurturing sort of way) and have all sorts of resources available to parents in need. My nurse was so spectacularly spectacular I still feel like crying with gratitude whenever I see her. I can remember calling her in a moment of pure desperation when I couldn't get one of my babies to sleep after 100 years of trying and having her talk me through it calmly, even though she was in the middle of a supermarket.
So, I rang Plunket head office and spoke to a lovely lady there about whether they were interested in distributing the hats to mums in need. She said a huge YES and also said they are crying out for woollen blankets, little jumpers and booties too.
Here is the address if anybody else is interested in contributing:
Plunket Area Office Canterbury
5 Twigger St.
Addington
Christchurch
New Zealand
8024.
I would emphasize however, the need for 100% wool to be used in the garments as it gets very cold in Christchurch and they need as much warming as possible.
It would take me a long time to knit a blanket so I whipped this up on the machine instead. Just in case you are wondering, it is a big swaddling cloth made with fine merino wool on the inside (the silky type they make clothes and thermal tops from) with an outside shell of cotton.
My babies were always so much calmer when they were swaddled and I wish that I had something cosy like this for them. It was made by sewing two big squares together (wrong sides facing) with a small gap left at the bottom. I then turned it inside out (so the right sides were outside) and top stitched all the way around. I then tied it together with little tight zig-zags in random intervals.
Over the next few days I will troll the internet for some great free patterns and post them for you. Thanks so much for listening and hopefully you might feel like getting your needles clicking or your hooks a'hooking.
Lots of love,
Kate xxooxx.