Our First Challenge
My son came home from school one day and told me that they had started practicing knitting (in Finland all children try out different handicrafts during their first school years). I said, “Great! What are you knitting?” And I must say that I was a bit surprised when the answer was that they would be knitting blankets. A lot of knitting, I thought. Then he explained that they will be knitting Mother Teresa Blankets. I had never heard of such blankets, but little surfing revieled that my son’s teacher is really clever. The kids each knit a small square. These squares are crocheted together to form a blanket, and finally the blanket is donated through Finnish Red Cross. Together the kids will make something really great!
I was very inspired by this so I decided that I will challenge my colleagues and we will also make some Mother Teresa Blankets. The challenge was well received and soon there were many of us knitting and crocheting squares. Even people who had never knitted or crocheted wanted to try it out. We had morning coffees and knitted together. So fun!
We ended up donating 12 blankets through the Finnish Red Cross to people somewhere in the world who are now very warm.
Our Second Challenge
Then we challenged everybody start knitting sweaters for babies. Altogether we knitted 74 baby sweaters, and which have now started their long journey to Ethiopia.
Our Third Challenge
There are lot of lonely, elderly people also here in Finland. Therefore, in our third challenge we decided to make Christmas presents for them. At the end we made 28 shawls, 5 blankets, 7 pairs of wrist warmers and 7 pairs of woolen socks. The nearby home care unit promised to deliver our presents to elderly people having no relatives and living alone at their own homes. Hopefully they will now have at least a bit warmer Christmas this year!
In the picture some of us are delivering the Christmas presents to the home care unit on December 15.
Did You Know?
The great thing with knitting and crocheting – besides that it is fun – is that it is also good for your brain. According to studies, knitting and crocheting make you calmer, happier, less anxious, and more confident. And, according to the same knitting together with others makes you happier than you would be knitting alone.
Furthermore, as we are knitting for charity, the effect is even further enhanced as volunteering makes you also happier and healthier. Read more here.
So take the challenge and start knitting for good with your colleagues!
Learn more about life at Ericsson and employee stories at ericsson.com/careers.
