NILMDTS

What do those letters represent, you might ask ... well they stand for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and it's a group of photographers all over the world (mostly in the US) that volunteer their time to take pictures of babies, with their families, who are angels or are soon to be angels because of medical conditions. The service that they provide is truly a blessing to these families who will only leave the hospital with pictures of their little one and empty arms - really heart breaking.

So, why am I talking about this? No, I'm not a photographer but I am able to sew and knit so I make teeny tiny preemie outfits up to newborn size outfits for these photographers to use during their photo sessions. There is a group of us who volunteer our time, money, and talents to make these outfits and mail them where they are needed. Our group is called Heavenly Angels In Need (HAIN - yet another acronym) and is led by a wonderful lady named Mary. Most of us have experienced the loss of a baby so can understand the grief and pain these families are experiencing.

Another wonderful aspect of HAIN is our ability to use wedding gowns that are donated to us to make these precious angels outfits.

I've included two pictures of gowns I made from a donated wedding dress. The two gowns are for preemies less than 1 lb and are about 10" from the neck to the hem. They open in the front so the preemie can be laid onto the gown and the gown then closed with Velcro.
The larger dress is for a 4 to 5lb preemie and is made from a Newborns In Need pattern.

I designed a knit blanket that can either be preemie or newborn size depending on the yarn and needle size you use. You will need to sign up on the HAIN forum if you would like the blanket pattern.

And these beautiful angel wraps work well for preemies smaller than 1lb. I knit these with Bernat Softee Baby and size 3.5mm needles. You can find the pattern for these on LucyBug Patterns website. There is also a crocheted version of the angel wrap.