« Back Font Size: Seniors knitting to keep students comfortable in Kenya
Jan 1, 2008By: Melissa Mancini BROOKLIN -- Local seniors are stitching their way to a better world.
Children in Kenya who will be getting a new school thanks to Winchester Public School will also be getting blankets to sit on in the classroom from local seniors.
Seniors from the Court at Brooklin retirement building have been knitting eight-inch squares to make the blankets. A team of 18 Winchester teachers and families who will be going to Kenya to build the school in July will bring the blankets with them in their carry-on bags.
The seniors took over the project from the knitting club at Winchester this summer.
Susan Carter started the school project and the knitting initiative while she was the librarian at Winchester.
"It's our community extending our best wishes to their community," said Ms. Carter.
Dorothy Carter, Susan Carter's mother-in-law, helped pass out the wool at Court at Brooklin where she lives.
Susan Carter set a deadline of Dec. 10 for all the squares to be in. Now that the knitting is complete she has the task of sewing them all together to make the blankets.
"I have garbage bags full of the squares, I had to cut them off from knitting more so that I could start sewing," she said. Susan Carter sews all the blankets by hand and each blanket takes her about a week to put together.
Her initial goal was to have about 40 blankets to send because there are about 40 families whose children will be attending the new school. That goal has already been surpassed, with 55-60 blankets already completed.
She kept the squares small so the project was not overwhelming or taxing for the ladies who took part. There were about 20 knitters.
Dorothy Carter said she got involved with the knitting because it kept her busy. She said the project benefited the seniors, many of whom have become very interested in the activity and are now looking for other knitting projects to get involved with. She said the women were thrilled to be involved with the project.
