Great-grandmother spends two decades knitting for homeless children

A great-grandmother who learnt to knit during WWII has spent the last 18 years keeping Australian children warm.

A great-grandmother who learnt to knit under the Nazi regime spent the last 18 years keeping Australian children warm.

Marianne Garland has knitted almost 1000 cardigans in the past 18 years that she has donated to the Guardian Angel Knitting program.

The program donates the clothing to homeless people throughout Australia.

Ms Garland was only five-years-old when her mother taught her how to knit in Berlin, Germany.

“Dad was in the army and was a prisoner of war and he was in France so he was not around to help so mum used to go to the country and take orders for knitwear in exchange for food,” she said.

“We used to wrap the wool over the board and mum used to do the back and I used to do the two fronts because I was faster than her at 11 (years old).”

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It takes Ms Garland between five to seven days to knit a cardigan requiring 300g of wool.

The closest collection point to donate the cardigans is at the Guardian Chemist in Home Hill.

Ms Garland said her husband drives her to the chemist every year on August 31.

“We lug the big bags into the store and now they are ready for us because we have been delivering there for a few years,” she said.

“On the way back I usually start the first (cardigan) for the next year because I always knit in the car.”

Ms Garland makes between 55-60 cardigans each year and has so far completed 32 this year.

The 85-year-old said she loved the creativity of knitting.

“Choosing colours are not a difficult thing for me, having done interior decorating but I have always had a feeling for colours and styles,” she said.

“My husband reckons I have never knitted one that has been the same as the other one. You can change the knitting stich and the colours and the borders.”

Ms Garland said she cherished being kept busy in her retirement.

“I feel good about it and I don’t want any fame or people saying you are wonderful,” she said.

“It is just a thing I have done because nobody will employ me anymore so it is actually a thing that makes me feel useful still.”

Originally published as Great-grandmother spends two decades knitting for homeless children