It's a well known fact that knitting for babies is one of the most satisfying ways of utilising the time and talent of any knitter. But crafting tiny, beautiful items for premature babies whether you know them or for charitable donations to hospitals, has to be the most worthwhile and rewarding reason for picking up your needles.A friend of one of the MillaMia team has just been blessed with her son rather earlier than expected. Arriving small and early meant that he was in need of some tiny clothes pretty quickly, and who better to turn to than knitters when some speedy crafting is required?
These cute hats are a free pattern available on Ravelry - called 'Preemie Hats For Charity' by Carissa Browning. There are 5 designs taking small amounts of sportweight yarn so perfect for using up those odds and ends of MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino. I had some putty grey, storm and teal left over from various projects suitable for a new baby boy, and decided on knitting a couple of striped and 2 ribbed hats to make it interesting for me, but also to ensure that with a choice of fit, at least 2 of them would be ok.
Each hat took around 2 hours to complete, knitted in the round using the magic loop technique. The combination of simple, gratifying knitting, over very few stitches destined for someone so worthy honestly made these little hats one of the most pleasing knitting experiences ever.
Sally, one of our incredibly talented test knitters also managed to whip up some tiny cardigans in next to no time. Knitted in Naturally Soft Merino in putty grey, forget-me-not and storm the main body took around 60g with a small amount needed to for the contrast edgings. The pattern is the Garter Stitch Cardigan by Debbie Bliss from her book Design It, Knit It: Babies.
While looking for suitable patterns to use, I came across a wealth of free patterns designed with knitting for charity in mind. There are some wonderful charities that provide free patterns, and accept all manner of knitted items for donation to hospitals across the world. Bliss and Preemies UK are just 2 organisations that work immensely hard in fundraising and providing the huge quantities of knitted items needed. Full details of knitting for or donating to these incredible charities are on their websites.
It prompted some thinking on my part. About the use of my time and talent, and about making something truly worthwhile but that will always be gratefully received. With a hat taking the gift of 2 hours and a scrap of yarn, I really have no excuse.
(posted by Max)
These are gorgeous! Our little one (now not so little) was once a very little one, born prematurely and we really appreciated the teeny knits made by some lovely unknown people for the special care unit. We still have one of the hats, though actually nowhere near as stylish and tasteful as these knits!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story and for your lovely comments - it's heartwarming to know that the tiny knitted items are truly appreciated and remain so special.
DeleteFab knits. We also had a small early arrival and struggled to get cool little knits to create those all important layers (Expect the amazing pressies created by mrs Robinson!) Keep knitting ladies you will make families very happy and make a tough time a little easier.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much - lovely to hear your comments. We also think that tiny knits can be super stylish and have a HUGE amount of cute factor too :)
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