Christine Meredith
Christine is a member of Rotary, Inner Wheel, Probus and many other groups. So what do I do in my spare time since retirement? I make quilts for the Hutt Prem Baby Unit at Hutt Hospital in sizes from cushion cover up to 1 metre square. I also knit for the babies.
However, I want to tell you another story of my evenings at home and sometimes daytime. I mainly knit for others. Along with a group from Inner Wheel we knit beanies, slippers and sometimes mittens for 2 lower- socio economic primary schools in the Hutt Valley; baby clothes and knitted or woven blankets for Pregnancy Help.
These beanies and slippers were made by the Innerwheel and associates knitting group. Ready to be donated to Taita primary school. Some are my knitted items too.
I also do knitting which is directly donated to the Naenae knitting group which meets every Wednesday at Coco Pop in Hilary court. Since the Naenae group have donated wool and yarn my other groups can access some of this for our use as long as we ‘donate’ them our volunteer hours. A great way one group helping another! This is another group who knit for fun, primary schools and Pregnancy Help. Pregnancy Help gives clothing to women who are pregnant, referred by doctors, midwives or social services.
The woollen woven blankets are from another knitter/weaver and some quilts are sewn by another Inner wheel member. I cannot count the number of items I have either sewn or knitted but I do know how I started knitting for others. It was when I was working in the late 1990s in the Maternity Ward at Hutt Hospital where I recognised the need for woollen knits for the Prem Baby Unit. No acrylic yarn products are accepted as only wool will help a baby’s temperature to normalise. Try knitting on the equivalent of fine wire and wool not much thicker than sewing cotton! That is size 13 needles and 3 ply. That’s the idea. Now I mainly knit 8ply double knitting wool and old 8s or 4mm needles and have at least 2 items of knitting on the go at any one time. Occasionally I do some crochet blankets or peggy square blankets.
Yes, a bit of an idle life this retirement!