Knitting For UK Charities.

aquagran, I recently crochet an octopus for my grandson and he loves sitting twisting the tentacles. This then made me think maybe my father who is in a care home with dementia would like one to twiddle with. He loves it.
Maybe this could be something that will catch on?

witzend There are also "knitted knockers" for mastectomy patients to wear instead of heavy NHS prostheses. More details on the net. They do like you to use the yarns they recommend, as some are not as comfortable to wear.

www.lovecrafts.com gives free patterns. ive downloaded a couple

The other thing my local hospital said they always need was knitted breasts (!) for community midwives to use in breastfeeding demos. I was a bit ????? but there you go!
You can use any colour yarn, they don’t have to be human-coloured! However I did use up some (to me) rather nasty pink.
Example here.
They are quite simple to knit, though can also be partly crocheted.
If anyone would like the pattern please pm me.

BTW I originally emailed the local hospital’s volunteers/fundraising dept.to ask about twiddle muffs - they replied very quickly.
Not long ago they did also ask me to knit some ‘forget me nots’ for dementia awareness, but alas I found them far too fiddly for me.

Aquagran - local care homes?

Thank you Witzend. That’s exactly what we had in mind. Maybe I will pop into local hospital and ask.

I’ve knitted twiddle muffs for my local,hospital. I did ask first whether they’d like them.
I used the pattern that comes up if you google Oxford University Hospitals Twiddle muffs.
I gather that patients take them home with them, so more are often needed.
Here are a couple of mine. They’re very good for reducing your stash and using up odds and ends. All twiddly bits do of course need to be stitched on very firmly.

Just had an email from group that organises these mitts. There are so many rules, don’t think we’ll bother, we’re just a group of women wanting to knit to help.?

Thank you. Hoped for something a bit more personal, but this will do.

aquagran it could be better to start a new thread - I saw your post, opened this thread and tried to access the link at the top (not possible) then realised the thread is 5+ years old.

I'm sure someone will be able to answer your question.
Our craft group leader thought of twiddle mitts as our project for this year but then changed to something else. Perhaps she didn't get much response either.
We're making squares which will be turned into dressing gowns (apparently) through Knit for Peace.

This link takes you to their twiddle muff pattern plus an address to send them to.
knitforpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Twiddlemuff-Pattern.pdf

A few friends and I want to knit ‘Twiddle Mitts ‘ or ‘Twiddle blankets’ for dementia patients. People with dementia tend to fiddle with their hair or their clothes. These items give them something to fiddle with. I have contacted our local hospital and a web site dedicated to this subject, but have received no response. We don’t want to make them only for them to think “Oh no, more blooming mitts.” Any body got any ideas where to send them, or should we give up?

golden I never thought of that! It's like your arms are the end of a circular needle!

Wow! that's the sort of thing Grannyknot.
I thought of giving it a go but knowing me I'd want to go to the loo midway

golden (re arm knitting) I was intrigued and did a bit of googling - found this reference on Pinterest. I don't have time to explore it now but thought I'd post the link in the meanwhile:

www.pinterest.com/bocacat/arm-knitting-look-ma-no-needles/

There's a knitting and stitching fair with workshops at Alexandra Palace in Wood Green, north London in October I believe. Is anyone going?

I did see a YouTube demonstration of knitting a cowl scarf using your hands and arms instead of needles which apparently takes only half an hour. Unfortunately i didn't take note of the site. It seemed like something that could be made for donation to charities.

I'm glad the link has proved useful...I wandered into the knitting patterns for babies...I do a lot of small garment knitting for a local single mums centre, there are some very nice patterns and all good prices. So watch out, be warned The patterns for early babies will be very useful. I think I am OK for the coming winter now. Lots of nice projects to keep e company

I just realised you're on the knitting thread already

HI hobbyknit this is useful thank you, because I am leading a "knit in" for charity next week Saturday and I was looking for some simple ideas recently (also on here). Will link to my post next.

Welcome to Gransnet!