19 March 2024
Just when we thought life couldn’t get any cuter at Harbour Hospice, these little crocheted baskets have emerged.
Last week people were enchanted by the flocks of adorable, knitted Easter chicks that landed in our shops to be sold to raise funds towards patient services. This week we have these baskets.
The baskets will be filled with chocolate eggs and popped on patients’ meal trays in our IPUs over Easter. “It’s the little touches that can make such a difference to patients,” says Household Manager Cathie Jack. “We want our patients to feel special at Hospice, and we can even hope that a little basket of eggs on their tray might help them relive the excitement they felt as a child when the Easter bunny had been.”
The baskets have been crafted by clever Riverhead local, Patty Wilson, who belongs to a knitting group with one of our Albany hospice shop volunteers. Patty joined the group four years ago, despite not being able to knit. “I can’t knit, but I can crochet,” she says cheerfully. So, when the others in the group take on a new knitting project – they create knitted products for various charities from beanies for the homeless to breast prostheses for women who have had masectomies to Easter chicks for hospice – Patty will find an alternative crochet project that complements what the others are doing.
She found the Easter basket pattern on the Internet and added crocheted flowers with a button centre to make the baskets even sweeter.
Being part of the knitting group has helped Patty keep her hands busy in the evening while she’s watching TV (so that she doesn’t snack) and it’s also given her a fun social outlet, she says. Each basket takes her about 45 minutes to create, and she’s thrilled that they’re being used to brighten patients’ days. “I can’t wait to make more for them,” she says.
If you’d like to spread the cuteness and join our band of merry chick knitters or crocheted basket makers please email Vicki or call her on 027 767 5742.
