As winter bites, Aranui School children at Castlecliff will soon be a lot warmer when they slip their tiny feet into knitted socks and wrap scarves around their necks.
Castlecliff woman Claudette Morgan and knitters from Jane Winstone, a craft group in Aramoho, a church group in Westmere and afew personal friends have been clicking the needles to knit 110 pairs of socks and scarves to cover all the kids in the school.
"I have been knitting for a couple of months - knitting in my sleep - and we're still a few short," smiles Ms Morgan as she sorts out the coloured, chunky, woollen socks in sizes of small, medium and large for the children aged 5-11 years.
The inspiration came when she received an email from a friend in Australia asking if she would like to knit for children in New Zealand through the Knit for Kids programme.
She thought she'd like to knit for local children, approached Aranui School and got to work.
Some people donated wool, and she said she had been supporting Hospice shops by buying wool from them.
Ms Morgan has been knitting all her life and has been thinking about teaching young people the craft. A friend had recently been on a bus north of Auckland, and when she pulled out her knitting the 17-year-old next to her wanted to know what she was doing. She said he had never seen anyone knitting before.
If you are interested in Ms Morgan teaching knitting or crochet to children, email claudette.m@xtra.co.nz
