Knitting together for several charities
The Queen Mother’s Clothing Guild is the charity partner for this year’s event and has been helping charities across the UK with new clothing, bedding, linen and knitted items for decades.
Each autumn, all knitted garments are taken to St James’s Palace in London to be counted and sorted before they are sent to those in need across the country. Last year the charity distributed more than 22,000 items to 62 charities.
The Loch Ness Knit Fest team learned about the organisation through the work of Tain-based guild supporter Etta Brown who was awarded a BEM last year for knitting thousands of items for Scottish charities.
Etta, a nimble fingered 92-year-old, knitted her first sock when she was eight years old and has maintained momentum ever since while encouraging other knitters to help along the way.
“I meet ladies who say that their fingers have become too stiff to knit, but I tell them that if they don’t stop knitting their fingers will stay supple,” she said.
The special care baby unit at Inverness’s Raigmore hospital has received some of the items before. A spokesman said: “All the knitted items are wonderful, they help parents and babies so much. Some premature babies do not have anything so the small items give huge pleasure to families.”
The annual festival brings together knitters from all over the world. It runs October 13-15, with events at Inverness Ice Centre and Mercure Inverness Hotel.
- More: www.lochnessknitfest.com
