Blankets for the Homeless Knitted with Love

Residents at Resthaven Malvern have been hard at work creating warm, knitted blankets to donate to the homeless for Christmas. Lifestyle Coordinator, Felicity Tucker, says, "Earlier this year, we set up shared knitting box in our café area, and encouraged residents, staff and visitors to knit a square to contribute."

"The resulting squares – more than 200 in all – were stitched together by resident, Mrs Ruth Osborn (who recently celebrated her 100^th birthday), creating warm, woollen blankets for those cold nights."

"The blankets will be donated to the Hutt Street Centre in December."

Ruth says, "It gives me peace to know that they’re going to someone in need."

"In fact, we’ve just started another one!"

Two other keen knitters were Mrs Shirley Kanally and Mrs Joyce Thomas, who thoroughly enjoyed knitting for such a worthy cause.

Shirley says, "We were thrilled to do this project, knowing it would keep someone warm."

"I put one [blanket] together, these two lasses [Ruth and Joyce] did a lot of knitting, and Ruth did the blanket stitch."

Joyce says, "I loved having the company of Ruth and Shirley, and enjoyed the time spent with them, knowing we were doing something for someone else."

Established in 1935, Resthaven is a South Australian not-for-profit aged care community service associated with the Uniting Church in Australia.

Every day, Resthaven shares the lives and wisdom of older people and their carers, opening doors to the full range of aged care service options available.

Services are provided throughout metropolitan Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills, Murraylands, Riverland, Fleurieu Peninsula, lower Barossa region and the Limestone Coast of South Australia.