It’s been a busy summer for members of the Busy Fingers Knitting Club. So much so that the Orléans-based club is already in need of more wool in order to meet the demand they expect for woolen toques, mitts and scarves this winter and especially around the holiday season.

Each year the Busy Fingers Knitting Club knits more than 3,000 items which they then donate to the city’s community resource centres, homeless shelters, veteran homes, family shelters and maternity wards, to name just a few of the beneficiaries.

Eileen McCaughey, who just turned 91 this week, is the founder and tour de force behind the club which she launched in 2010.

In just the past year the club has expanded to include chapters in Quebec and New Brunswick. Here in Ottawa there are more than 200 members, most of whom live in Orléans.

The only problem with having more members is that it requires more wool. In fact, McCaughey recently delivered a car full of wool to the club’s Quebec chapters including a monastery near Quebec City which specializes in knitting afghans which they give to the local fire department to be used to help comfort people who have to leave their homes in a hurry with nothing on their backs.

Still, the vast majority most of the 3,000-plus items the club knits every year end up being donated to local organizations. And the members continue to come up with new items, like the wool dolls they knit for sick kids at CHEO, or the wool satchel bags designed to hang from a walker or a wheelchair that have become extremely popular among seniors.

The only rule the club sticks by is that the items can not be sold in any way.

“We’re not knitting these things so that people can make money. We knit them for people who really need them,” says McCaughey.

The club is actually mutually beneficial. It gives the members something meaningful to do that will help others, while at the same time providing warmth for people who might not otherwise be able to afford a pair of wool socks, or mittens or even an afghan.

If you would like to donate some wool you can do so by either dropping it off at the
Willowbend retirement community at the corner of Innes and Trim Road, or you can call Eileen at 613-841-3641 and arrange to drop it off at her home or have it picked up. Monetary donations can also be made to help purchase more wool.

The club is also always on the lookout for new members to replace aging members or to simply ad to their ranks. If you are a knitter or would like to learn how to knit you should also contact Eileen.

Members meet at her Fallingbrook home on the third Monday of each month to knit and to socialize.