When I'm not printing my heart out on my new press, I work as a freelance medical/technical editor. A former colleague recently contacted me about helping her organization to revise some training materials. So, I spent the last few days working with 3 midwives to revise a set of materials that are used in developing countries to help educate and train community members in basic life-saving skills for pregnant women.
I love working with midwives, particularly those who work in developing countries. They have the most amazing stories--both heart-warming stories that make you feel warm and fuzzy, and tragic stories that make you want to cry.
One of the midwives will be traveling to Ghana and Liberia in the coming weeks, and she'll be carrying with her about 250 hats for newborn babies, knitted by a group of women from a local church in Tucson.
Seeing those tiny hats reminded me that once upon a time I learned to knit and I really enjoyed it. I never had the time to learn to knit sweaters and such, so I stuck with small baby blankets and scarves. I haven't knitted at all in the past few years, and I'd really like to get back to it. I find it so relaxing. One thing that has kept me from jumping back into it is that I can only knit so many scarves... Without a specific purpose, there isn't as much incentive for me.
But now I have a purpose: Making baby hats and blankets for tiny babies in other countries. Their mothers often have nothing.
Nothing.
So I'm going to dust off my knitting needles and take a refresher course. For sure I'll be stopping in at the cute little knitting shop we have downtown called Tangle.
And I would love to make these baby hats.
It can become a hassle for the midwives and doctors I know to carry the hats with them to the countries they visit, so I'm looking for specific organizations dedicated to this cause working in other countries or even in the US. A quick search this morning produced two promising sites for donating the items: Afghans for Afghans and Algerian Action. I'll have to read more about these organizations. If any of you know of any good organizations that need some knitted baby caps or blankets, please let me know.
I still have a lot to do on the house this year, so I'm setting a (hopefully reasonable) goal of refreshing my knitting skills and then knitting 25 baby caps and/or blankets this year. Anyone care to join me?
What a great thing! I know you'll enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteBoy I would...if I knew how to knit! I have had some women make and donate hats and blankets to my program. I have certainly heard of others...I'll put my thinking cap on.
ReplyDeleteGood and noble work!
If you can use some hats and blankets, Linda, I'll sure make them and send them to you! :D
ReplyDeleteI checked with Tangle, and they cancelled the January class so I won't be able to take a refresher class until next month. That's probably good; I'll need at least a month to find all my knitting needles and yarn!