Homebound and with a bit more time on their hands, Middlemore Foundation knitters have been knitting furiously over the lockdown period - a knitting frenzy of sorts! Knitted blankets, warm clothing, mittens, shoes, plush toys and beanies have arrived in droves at inward goods since we opened again to receive knitting.
Here's one example from Beverly and David Brand (pictured), members of the 'Sew and So' knitting group of the Trinity Methodist Church, Waiake. "We have a membership of around 17/20, mainly retirees, some members have belonged since day one!" Beverly says.
Lyle, our Whaanau Coordinator, was able to safely uplift over 40 bags of knitting from the Brands' residence in the North Shore; 40+ bags! The bulk of which was knitted by the Sew and So group.
Continues Beverly, "We are very fortunate to have several other folk out in our community who also knit for Middlemore namely:
"Mrs Anne MacLean of Birkenhead. Ann is exceptional in that she will knit what we call our scraps of wool and leftover pieces as long as it is over 1 metre long and she makes some truly beautiful blankets from all colours of wool. She also buys fabric herself and makes many, many fabric blankets. To date when David and I collected from her recently she had done a total of just over 1000 blankets for Middlemore either knitted or sewn. An amazing achievement! Anne has a friend, Jo Paine, who also knits some beautiful garments for Middlemore which she gives to Anne for us to collect."
"Trinda Jackson from The Sunnynook Ladies Club who regularly delivers a very large quantity to our house for us to add to our supply that we store in our rumpus room until we have 1 or 2 car loads to deliver to you at Middlemore."
"Margaret Kennedy from Fairview Heights has a group of ladies knitting for Middlemore too and she delivers her lovely large bag to us on a regular basis. In her group she wanted to also mention Enid Di-Cesare who contributes some beautiful garments also."
"Several members from our congregation at Trinity Church also during the year add to our collection and we as a group are very grateful to them all too."
We love our Middlemore knitting community and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude for their contribution to our community and hospital.
Join our facebook Middlemore knitting group virtually here: https://bit.ly/3o8pIn4
