1 May 2002
Rifka Knox and her uplifting yarn by Sharon Gray.
|
A Melbourne woman, Rifka Knox, heads a 750-strong network of knitters around Australia who make warm clothes for people in need. Remember Margaret from Dandenong op-shop? She told me about a pensioner Rifka Knox who began a group called Knitters for Melbourne's Needy nine years ago. Margaret is one of Rifka's 750 volunteers Australia-wide who knit for 27 welfare organisations caring for the abused, battered and homeless. So far, they have made and distributed 78,000 beanies, baby woollies, bed socks, scarves, rugs and jumpers for children and adults. Knox's bedroom is the only private space in the big open rented house - the rest is factory. Cartons, multi-coloured button jar pyramids, rows of sturdy Glenfiddich tubes bristling with needles of every size, meticulously sorted patterns and glowing cones of industrial wool donated by a Richmond firm, Fields Knitwear. Industrial wool is stronger than commercial knitting wool, but it is very thin. So Knox twists four cones of different colours together to produce a tweedy eight-ply. This is knitted into long-sleeved, deep-cuffed, round-necked, beautifully finished, timelessly fashionable jumpers. Pressed by loving hands, folded and presented in a fresh clear bag to people who may never have owned anything new. Knitters was born one night when Knox, who suffers chronic pain from a spinal condition, sat thinking about homeless people. "I wanted to help them, but how? I looked down in my lap and there was my knitting. I thought, that will do. I didn't want the articles sold or raffled, as these things often are. I wanted them given, fresh and beautiful, to people who really needed them. They have to be very warm. V-necks are too cold and we make them long." Knitters send garments all over Victoria and has just sent a load to Sydney for the first time. Knox has videos of delighted small children choosing their own jumpers and dancing off in them, but doesn't attend handouts. "It upsets me too much. I just deal with the agencies." Rifka buys commercial eight-ply - Paul Newman Foundation recently gave funds for this - and gratefully receives anybody's leftovers. "Don't throw them out!" she pleads. She unpicks reusable garments, rewinding the crinkly skeins on to a little spinning-umbrella thing. Two careful ties to hold it neatly, then hanks are washed and hung to dry in her bathroom. Knox takes great care of everything she is given. "Oh, I can pick a ply!" She puts bars of soap in everything, to keep out moths. The knitters receive a pattern book, needles and wool. They are of all ages, there's no time limit or competition. They talk of wanting to be useful, of giving up smoking, sleep problems and how knitting relaxes them. It is their favourite drug. "Those with eyesight problems don't get dark colours. Some don't like mohair, prefer babies clothes, small needles. I keep a database on each knitter. There's an Irish woman who refuses to work in green and three blind people who don't care what colour it is." "We've got 10 volunteer drivers who collect because many knitters are housebound. By the way, we need a driver for the Essendon area, and an occasional interstate courier. I don't mind begging at all - I also want Fibrefill, help with our website and more knitters!" She does too, as winter draws on. |
Monday 22 April 2002
Knox and her knitters love a good yarn as needles fly by Katrina McGrath.
|
There is a choice of two doorbells when you arrive at the Caulfield home of Rifka Knox. The first is marked "press this first", while the back-up bell is an industrial toll to cut through the impressive noise of the heavy-duty wool-spooling machine she uses to dress Melbourne's underprivileged. The industrial wool-spooling machine, according to Mrs Knox, has two speeds - "Concord or off." She is the founder of Knitters for Melbourne's Needy, an organisation that has donated 77,000 knitted garments to 25 charities since it began nine years ago. Now the click of knitting needles can be heard across Melbourne and country Victoria, with 730 volunteers spending days, evenings and weekends helping out Mrs Knox's home-grown charity. "I give the organisations as many garments as I think they need," Mrs Knox said. "But we can never give them enough - the problem of people needing help is getting worse. And one of the biggest problems of our group is the perception that we are a bunch of ladies sitting around knitting. That is just not true." Mrs Knox started the group with two volunteers to provide clothing and help boost the self-esteem of underprivileged children and adults. Each room of Mrs Knox's Caulfield home is laden with perfectly packed boxes of finished garments and cupboards of ready-to-knit yarn. Her fastidious bookkeeping shows a running tally of completed garments and volunteer contributions over the past nine years. "Some of the volunteers don't like red wool, some only like pastels, some only knit babies' things and others only do scarves," Mrs Knox said. "Each volunteer has their special likes and dislikes, and somehow we get all the knitting done, packed and sent out to the organisations." Knitters for Melbourne's Needy relies on corporate and community donations to keep the needles clicking. With help from sponsor Harry Rosenberg, of Rosenberg and Partners Accountants, and recent money from Newman's Own Foundation, Mrs Knox is able to distribute wool for volunteers to transform into garments. "We always need odd balls of wool of any ply, voluntary knitters and voluntary drivers," Mrs Knox said. Four Years of Knitting Jeanette Thomas has stitched up four years of volunteering for the Knitters for Melbourne's Needy. During this time, the St Kilda West knitter has made 46 garments with wool donated to the organisation. These garments have helped keep underprivileged men, women and children across Melbourne warm during winter. "I always liked knitting and I wanted to use my time to help someone else," Mrs Thomas said. "The good thing about the organisation is that you know exactly where the clothing is going, and it is truly a donation." Mrs Thomas mostly knits adult jumpers but has also contributed babies' clothing. "There is no pressure to get items finished. Volunteers do as much as they can, when they can," she said. |
Friday 18 July 1997
|
Rifka Knox Rifka Knox is the president of Knitters for Melbourne's Needy, which this week gave away its 25,000th hand-made item. She spoke to Nicole Brady. Q Does a stitch in time save nine? A I think it saves lives. Every stitch that we knit or crochet is going towards helping needy people with no warmth and no opportunity to get warm. And I think that saves lives in the weather that we have. To me, a stitch in time saves nine means we do things now instead of putting them off, and we do as much as we can and give out as much as we can, to try and keep people warm and to raise their self-esteem. The idea of always living in hand-me-down clothing is something I can't come to terms with. We're trying to show needy people we care, so every stitch we make counts for nine, because it's nine they can't make - either because they don't know how or they can't afford to buy the yarn. |