‘Winter warmer’: kind-hearted China grandma, 84, knits 1,500 jumpers in 15 years for country’s poverty stricken children
- Octogenarian knits for kids of migrant workers, disabled, disaster victims
- Even asks that hospital drip be attached to foot so she can keep knitting
An 84-year-old woman in eastern China has been affectionately dubbed “sweater grandma” due to her hobby of knitting jumpers and donating them to poverty-stricken children across the mainland.
Han Cuiju, a resident of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang, has hand-knitted more than 1,500 sweaters over a period of a decade and a half.
Her caring efforts began in 2005 when her daughter read about children in poverty stricken areas who were freezing in winter because they could not afford warm clothing.
“These kids are too wretched. There is some wool left at home. Let me knit some sweaters for them,” said an emotional Han.
She spent the next few months knitting 36 sweaters, then asked her daughter to send them to a primary school whose students are the children of migrant workers from hinterland regions.
Since then, making the sweaters has formed a major part of Han’s life. It is reckoned she has churned out around 1,500 items since she started.
