Mini-Me Handcrafts - Teeny Tiny Beanies

This is the face of Rug Babies - Sewing Knitting and Crocheting for premature and sick newborns. This tiny baby girl was born at 26 weeks gestation in 2006 and is now a beautiful 5-year-old princess.

The Rug Babies project was started by Cass Malone who was placed on hospital bed rest late last year at just 23 weeks. To keep herself busy she began sewing tiny hospital gowns for her baby and then decided to keep sewing and donating these gowns to the Canberra Hospital NICU.

As Christmas drew closer, she began to make Christmas gowns and asked for Christmas hats to make sets for each little baby that had to be in hospital for their first Christmas. I was delighted to be a part of that project, donating tiny handmade crochet Christmas beanies to go with the gowns that Cass and many others had made.

Cass had her baby boy on 2nd November at 27 weeks, weighing just 980 grams. Whilst she has been very busy with her family over the past 6 months, she still finds time to sew her tiny hospital gowns and is putting together gift packages for those babies and their families who take the journey through Canberra Hospital NICU.

So in between bunnies, strawberries and angry birds, I have been busy crocheting more tiny beanies for premature babies. I have about 50 ready to go with Cass's tiny gowns in lots of different colours and four sizes. 

This is how tiny they are - the smallest is just the right size for a beanie bear!

Please take a look at Rug Babies on Facebook. If you would like to help, Cass can be contacted by email at rugbabies@gmail.com. 

Christine xx

Update July 2012: Details for the crochet pattern I use can be found in a new blog post here.