Little Eagles is a creche and the children are from some of the poorest homes and have very little. They attend Little Eagles during the day to get them out of their shacks and while their parents seek work. Little Eagles is situated in 2 containers and previously they were not able to afford to feed the children in their care during the day. Zimele assist in making sure the children have 2 meals a day. Some of these children do not have any other food other than what they get at Little eagles. Zimele continue their work with the support of their customers and friends. Zimele facilitate the purchases, donations, food preparation and daily drop off's & provide bread & porridge.
I am humbled by the work Zimele is doing and the people who support Zimele's feeding scheme for Little Eagles but most especially by the staff who run and care for the children everyday. I have not been to Little Eagles. It is time I made a visit!
I really like knitting.
In January I started knitting some hats. My sister is friends with Janine who owns & runs Zimele. I told her that I thought it would be pretty cool to make hats for the kids for winter and the project started. I am now up to 24 hats, there are about 40 children at Little Eagles so still a few to go. I have typed up all the patterns so anybody can have the pattern. It is really easy to knit hats! I am running out of wool. My supply from under the bed is thinning out a bit. You have to be a knitter to understand that you can keep wool for years...some of my wool is over 20 years old! To get the base colours I started unwinding some jumpers that I was not wearing. Wool is pretty expensive especially when R15 could buy food which is more important than a hat. This really is 're-purposing' at its best & satisfying unwinding something that you made but no longer use because it is tatty or doesn't fit. My mom-in-law dug out some wool she had been keeping too. I think my sister has packed away her winter jumpers in case I borrow some & she finds the wool in the next hat!Every Friday we have dinner & some wine & have a look at the weeks hats. This week my sister Susan has started to help me.
I make about 3 or 4 hats a week, mostly on the weekend. My kids love them. There is something really cool about a bright hat. I have made them with long rib so that they can be pulled over your ears in the wind. I am really looking forward to being able to give Janine all the hats so she can give them to the kids. I haven't spent any cash yet & I have really enjoyed this so much. I have lots of ideas and there is something so satisfying about making something that you enjoy making but will enjoy giving away too!
These are some of the hats so far. This has been lots of fun :)
How to re-purpose a jumper:
