Going 'flat out on their needles” is how Betty Higgins describes the tightknit group who've been meeting weekly in her Hairini home.

And when she told me the address, I was hooked.

Every Monday the Daintee Ladies Knitting Group have been busy knitting items for the Tauranga district, in what was once the surgery attached to the house of my great uncle Dr Ray Harvey. Having recently passed through the purly gates, I think he would have loved to know the legacy he began of showing care for people's health and wellbeing continues on, within the same walls.

'We bought the house 21 years ago from Dr Harvey,” says Betty. 'The knitting group started back when we were Ohauiti Country Women's Institute. We were asked to knit beanies for the sailors at the Seamen's Mission about 16-17 years ago.”

Twiddle muffs

Betty says the national institute then asked if the group could make ‘twiddle muffs' for people with dementia.

'You attach different things onto the muffs, for people to twiddle with,” says Betty.

Betty says unfortunately the institute had to close after 40 years, due to people leaving or dying.

'I was president at the time. When it closed we wondered what we could do. I have a room out back and we thought we'd keep knitting.”

Clothing and toys made by the Daintee Ladies Knitting Group. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

The group meets every Monday with up to nine ladies and two outworkers who also knit from home. And they've extended further afield.

'My daughter brings knitting from a group in Thames. We had our lunch at Oaktree Restaurant on Friday and she brought 26 teddies and two little cuddly blankets. That's all going to Tauranga Hospital Emergency Department.

'Other items will go to the children's ward and prem ward. We feel the need is here so everything is donated here.”

Teddies made by the Thames Knitwits. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Combining forces

Combining forces with the Thames Knitwits, the two groups have donated nearly 1000 knitted or crocheted items this year to Tauranga Hospital, 'from tiny headbands to jerseys for 10-year-olds and everything in between”.

There's also toys, garments, booties, blankets and teddies given to Homes of Hope, Women's Refuge and the local Plunket and brain injury organisations.

'One of our ladies is making little twiddle muffs for children with brain injuries and decorating them with bells. Another knitted a circus. And she did cars, ambulances, trucks – they went to Homes of Hope.”

Matching beanies and slippers are made for new entrants at nearby Maungatapu School. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Betty says knitted beanies are always wanted for children.

'We gave beanies to brain injury one year, and they were distributed on Stewart Island – that was wonderful.”

The group has been more prolific in 2022, completing 977 items. For the last two years the total was 700 items each year.

'We've had a busy time. We also gave Maungatapu School matching beanies and slippers for their new entrants.”

The group arrives Mondays 9.15am, bringing their lunch, and all gone by about 2pm. Members come from Otumoetai, Mount Maunganui, Welcome Bay and Greerton.

Betty feels enormously proud of the group's knitted output.

'I felt with the effort the two groups put in this year it was about time they were mentioned.”

She says one lady is partially blind, one is 91 and another is 92.

'They unroll the wool and put them in balls and keep the conversation going. One is in her 70s, on in her 80s and one in her 50s, their hands always going flat out. Other people drop in for a cup of tea and a chat.

'I can't speak enough of them, I think they're wonderful.”