I handed over 3 bold and simply designed knitted blankets yesterday. I found a 4th afterwards so that one will go too.
Our knitting group meets once a week to sew together squares other kind strangers have knitted and donated. The leader of our group sends the blankets to Oxfam to be sold at festivals in the UK or directly to St Anne's Hospital in Liuli in Tanzania (our village and theirs have a link, don't know why, there must be some personal history behind this.)
From the random colours given to us we piece together whatever we fancy. I make up my own design and have stuck to it for a whole year. I loved the blankets I made so much I couldn't bear to hand them over for a few months! I have taken them to church on freezing days and shared them over our knees. I spread them out at a craft show on the most boiling July day last summer. H has spent time on the sofa under them and so have I.
I am in a bit of a quandry. The leader asked if I had a preference as to them being sent to the Hospital or sold by Oxfam. In my heart I would like them to travel the world and liven up someone else's home, accompanying them home from hospital. But another bit of me says that the squares were freely given with no word as to their final use, so I must hand my part of the work over freely too. So that was my decision, let others make the decision, it is a free gift.
Also, a person here in the UK is exactly as deserving of a beautiful blanket and who am I to say that one particular person here should not buy one of the blankets I stitched together?
Finances come into it as some designs fetch more I assume. So that's an odd feeling, that designs which are not so appealing to the UK eye would be given abroad and we would keep the more attractive ones.
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