Lions’ needles knit past ‘twiddlemuff’ target
Palmerston North’s Heartland Lions Club has stuck to its knitting – with stellar results.
The club’s ‘‘100 twiddlemuffs in 100 days’’ project has been a resounding success.
A muff is a handwarmer, and last year the club instigated a community project to make 100 enhanced versions known as twiddlemuffs.
The cosy knitwear is for dementia patients in the region’s resthomes.
The club put out an appeal for donations of knitting wool, large buttons, buckles, beads, badges, cotton reels, zippers, and any sort of small three-dimensional object that could be attached inside the colourful creations and provide a stimulation activity for the restless hands of those with dementia, while keeping their hands warm.
‘‘We reached our goal within the 100 days and surpassed it by completing 150 muffs,’’ Heartlands youth and development director Ann Dowds said. ‘‘Every twiddlemuff had a red heart sewn on to it, signifying our involvement and conveying our good wishes to the eventual owner.’’
Heartlands club president Jeanette Izod said they had enjoyed plenty of donations along with encouragement and positive feedback.
‘‘We want to thank people for their contribution and for their knitting. One elderly lady donated 100-year-old buttons that had belonged to her mother, so some of the twiddlemuffs have antique buttons on them.’’
Another woman donated two suitcases full of knitting wool she had been keeping for just such a project.
Izod said the twiddlemuffs would now be distributed to care facilities and dementia units throughout Palmerston North and Feilding, providing brain stimulus to those who needed it, and as the colder days approached, some colour, warmth and comfort.