Beanies for Africa

Ok, this is something different. We’re not selling these in fact we’d like you to join us and knit a few. In 2009 we started supporting a maternity hospital in Cape Town, South Africa who needs 700 knitted baby beanies a month to distribute to midwives so that every newborn baby will have a chance to survive winter. If you are travelling to Southern Africa and would like to take some with you, that would be fantastic. You can take them to a local hospital / church / orphanage and they will send them where they’re needed most.

Babies lose much of their heat through their heads so these beanies are often a life saving gift from you. You may have heard of the fish and chip; babies who leave hospitals wrapped in newspaper for warmth.

We have collected over 20 000 beanies since 2009 and they continue to arrive in the post every week. This is an on-going project so we’re happy to keep tracking down travellers to transport them.

Our Facebook page shows regular updates of beanies as well as thank you letters from around the world. If you would like to see photos of all of them, visit this page: http://www.facebook.com/babybeanies

We NEED YOUR HELP to send them.

Monty’s is a collection point for beanies for babies in Africa and we send them back to Cape Town with various travellers during the year. We have loads of Kiwis in New Zealand doing charity knitting which is great. 1 x 100gm ball of wool makes 5 beanies.

Here’s the pattern that the hospital has given out:

PATTERN FOR BABIES BEANIES

4 ply wool and size 11 (3.00) and 10 (3.25) needles.
Cast on 90 sts with size 11 needles
Work single rib for 2 inches (5 cms)
Change to size 10 needles and work in pattern of your choice until work measures 5 inches (12.5cm) from beginning (including the ribbing). Don’t forget this part…. as we’ve had a few odd shaped ones through 🙂
Shape top Row 1 (K8, k2tog) 9 times
Row 2 and alternate rows knit
Row 3 (K7, k2tog) 9 times
Row 5 (K6, k2tog) 9 times
Row 7 (K5, k2tog) 9 times
Row 9 (K4, k2tog) 9 times
Row 11 (K3, k2tog) 9 times
Row 13 (K2, k2tog) 9 times
Row 15 (K1, k2tog) 9 times
Row 16 (Knit)
Row 17 (k2tog) 9 times
Break yarn and thread through stitches.
If you’ve used 2 needles, sew up seams to make beanie.

Thank you so much for your support.

DELIVERY ADDRESS:

Att: Lisa Gisby
21 Thelma Crescent
Torbay
Auckland

We do not recommend posting them directly to South Africa as we’ve had 2 cases where the recipients were told to pay hundreds of rands duty to receive the parcels which they really can’t afford. We haven’t had any issues to date when they’ve been carried over in people’s luggage.

LOCAL BEANIES FOR BABIES DRIVE

Due to the amazing response that we’ve had so far from around the country, we would like to support our New Zealand babies too so will be sending half the beanies collected to South Africa and the other half to South Auckland after discovering that there are still babies going home in just a nappy and a toddlers t-shirt. Knitted booties and other baby garments are most welcome too. The bulkier clothing will be sent with half the beanies to the South Auckland Health Foundation to go to hospitals in need.

These can be delivered to Lisa at the address above or to the South Auckland Health Foundation, Att: Diane McEntee, C Floor, Building 2, Middlemore Hospital.

And for those of you who either can’t knit or have no time to knit but would still like to be involved in this project, we have a team of dedicated knitters who would be very grateful to have any wool donated (4ply or 8ply) in any colour to be able to transform into lovely warm garments for these precious children.

Please send to one of the addresses above.

For those of you who have 8ply (double knit) wool, here’s a pattern for you too kindly supplied by one of our supporters:

8ply Baby Beanie Pattern

Use size 5.00mm needles (tight knitters) or 4.5mm (loose knitters)
Cast on 64 stitches * and work 14 rows in (K 1, P 1) rib. Knit 24 rows, or work until 11 cm from cast-edge.
Shape Crown as follows:
Row 1 : K 6 K 2 tog; repeat to end of row (56stitches)

Row 2 : Knit.

Row 3 : K 5, K 2 tog; repeat to end of row. (48 stitches).

Row 4 : Knit

Row 5 : K 4, K 2 tog; repeat to end of row (40 stitches)

Row 6 : Knit Continue decreasing in this manner until (K 1, K 2, tog) has been completed and 16 stitches remain.
Knit 1 Row. Break yarn and thread through remaining 16 stitches.
Make up : Sew the back seam ensuring that the fold-back of the brim is on the correct side.