Close-knit group aid Indian babies

ROBERT KITCHIN/Manawatu Standard

STICKING TO THEIR KNITTING: Palmerston North rest-home knitters Joy Oliver and Margaret Mawhinney are helping needy babies in India.

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Women at the Julia Wallace Retirement Village in Palmerston North work their needles in a good cause – helping the poor of India.

Thanks to their labours babies in New Delhi are keeping their ears warm.

Retired resident Blanche Lauridsen learnt about premature babies born into poor families who can't afford clothes and a birth unit that can't afford incubators.

This sparked an idea for Mrs Lauridsen, and she began knitting with three of her friends.

The idea caught on quickly.

"There must be eight or ten [rest homes] at least – plus different churches and individuals who live on their own," Mrs Lauridsen said.

The groups began just before Christmas and since then have sent nearly 600 woollen items to Indian new-borns.

The cause has inspired at least 100 residents to take part, and even some who can't knit are doing their part by op-shopping for second-hand woollen jerseys to take apart for others to knit into hats.

But the knitters are weaving beyond their means. "It [wool] is too dear for a lot of those ladies to buy. We could do with a barrel full," she said, adding tdonations would help.

Julia Wallace resident Valerie Dayman said she enjoyed knitting for the babies.

"It's being able to do something helpful with our time and doing something constructive instead of sitting here all day."