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The busy hands of this group of knitters from Orewa Primary School made a heart (and head) warming contribution to families in need. The knitters are pictured with grandmother, and knitting instructor, Marg Thompson, left, and teacher Rachel Ardin. Hats for newborns made by Year 5 students.
A small pile of wool donated for an Orewa Primary School art show was left over and one keen knitter, teacher Rachel Ardin, knew just what to do with it.
This term, she began a knitting project that connected a group of Year 5 students, some of their grandmothers, and a charity called Warming Hearts.
Her idea was to knit tiny hats for newborn babies, which are then donated to families by Warming Hearts.
Half of the 12 students who took part (11 girls and one boy) already knew the basics of knitting but the rest were absolute beginners.
Some of the children’s grandmothers, came in to help Rachel teach the children to knit.
The students say among the hardest things to learn were purl stitches and casting on. A few weeks later, it was taking most of them only a week to make a little hat.
Rachel taught herself to knit so she could make things for her second child, five years ago, and fell in love with it.
“Teaching kids a creative art is so important,” she says. “They have enjoyed the process, especially on wet cold winter days when they get to sit inside and knit at lunchtime.”
Rachel’s friend Victoria Dickinson runs the Warming Hearts charity which donates items for newborns, bundled up and distributed by midwives to families in need.
On September 7 the group visited the charity’s ‘bundle day’, to donate their pile of hats and help assemble the items.
“The children just love that their hats are going to little babies whose families are struggling,” Rachel says.
Info: www.warminghearts.co.nz
