The Busy Fingers knitting club is once again facing a dilemma. After a major up-surge in membership, thanks to a recent article in the Orléans Star, the club is once again in need of more wool and lots of it.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook ever since that story,” says Busy Fingers founder and president Eileen McCaughey. “We have more than 50 new members and I’m still getting calls for people who want to join.”
The Busy Fingers knitting club takes wool and yarn donated by the general public and turns it into scarves, mitts, hats, socks dolls and afghans which are then donated to organizations which deal with people who need them such as community resource centres, women’s shelters, hospices, senior homes and hospitals. They even knit little caps for newborns in pre-natal units. The only requirement is that the items can not be sold.
So far this year, the more than 200 members of the club have knitted and donated over 3,000 items.
Most of the club’s members live in Ottawa, but their are chapters of members in Quebec, including two groups of nuns near Quebec City. One member who lives in Montreal has knitted 97 pairs of socks in just the last few months.
“She’s one of these people who is con-stantly knitting” says McCaughey.
The latest members to join the club are a group of parishioners from St. Andrew’s United Church in Cumberland Village.
It’s a win-win situation. The club gives members a chance to do something mean-ingful knowing the items they knit will be going to someone who truly needs it, whether it’s warm socks or mitts for a homeless person, or an afghan shawl or blanket for a senior.
“Never underestimate the power of a senior, especially senior women,” says McCaughey, who turned 90 earlier this year. “We can do anything we put our mind too.”
But all the new members means the club needs more wool. Last year a call for donations turned into hundreds of balls of yarn and wool of every type and colour thanks to the generosity of Orléans Star readers.
McCaughey is hoping for another success-ful drive this year.
If you have any wool or yarn you wish to donate you can drop it off at Willowbend Retirement Community at the corner of Innes and Trim Road, or you can drop it off at Eileen’s home at 1967 Solano Terrace in Fallingbrook.
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