Stitch and chat has mums sewn up

New mums will receive hand-knitted winter woollens for their babies, thanks to the efforts of the Country Women's Association's annual Stitch and Bitch session.

About 30 knitters gathered at the Windsor Hotel yesterday for the CWA knit-off.

CWA Perth Belles city branch president Sadie Holmes said the event was aimed at giving something back to the community by contributing to packs of knitted items for mums in need at King Edward Memorial Hospital.

Amateurs and experts knitted squares of woollen blankets which would be sewn together to make blankets.

Packs also contain beanies, cardigans and wraps. In previous years the group had just focused on knitting individual projects, but Ms Holmes said she was hoping to push for a more inclusive community angle.

Mother of two and part-time business consultant Angela Beazley said the knit-off was a great opportunity to bring women together. "It's nice to do some of those homey things. We're so busy rushing around sometimes, it's good to stop and do something slowly," she said.

Ms Holmes stressed that the CWA was evolving to include younger women who were getting together to do everything from samba drumming to burlesque, and it no longer just focused on the traditional domestic arts.