SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

In recent years, Anna's joy for all things made from her soft, felted hands has taken on a new dimension. Together with the four pensioners who gather at her house every week, she is part of a wide network of Slovenian volunteers who knit free hats, slippers and octopuses for newborn babies. Anna's group is called "Diligent Hands" and is part of the Miklavž pri Ormožu Pensioners' Association.

Around 900 babies are born in the Ptuj Maternity Hospital every year, and each one of them receives a beautiful and soft gift. All Slovenian maternity hospitals take part in the campaign to collect donated knitted products, which means that every baby receives a warm knitted or crocheted cap and slippers, while premature babies receive a small octopus, as the soft tentacles are meant to remind them of the umbilical cord, or the time when they were in the safe shelter of their mother's belly.

This campaign was initiated by the Huda volna shop a few years ago, which this year is also calling on Slovenian knitters and crocheters to create products for the youngest children. They can take their products directly to the hospital or drop them off at the project coordinators in maternity hospitals or local associations. Ana Kocjan and her knitters gather every Monday for the two hours it usually takes to knit one product each. On average, Ana knits three caps and slippers a day - unless, of course, her time is taken up by knitting or sewing in the Richelieu method, which she is also passionate about.

The women, who in recent years have been joined by young knitters and seamstresses from their municipality, knit every day and submit their products to Ana, who takes them to Ptuj every two months. Some of the slippers, caps, clothes and blankets contributed by the Diligent Hands are also on display in the hospital's showcases, and in this way many parents-to-be and other visitors find out about the campaign to give free gifts to children, and sometimes donate a euro or some wool to the knitters, who buy the materials for their work themselves.

It is very important that the wool does not sting (especially in the winter months) and that the caps are just the right size; the average circumference of a newborn baby's head is between 32 and 37 centimetres. In the warmer months of the year, Ana and the team at Diligent Hands create thinner cotton caps and socks, as well as sewn products for little heads. 

And what is the pay?

A good mood and a contented soul, says Ana Kocjan. And the feeling of giving something to newborns is especially warm. And for the icing on the cake, Ana Kocjan and her knitting and crocheting team also make hats for the eldest. As 16 elderly people in their municipality are turning 90 this year, each of them will receive a warm woolen cap in the coming spring. Free of charge, of course.

And here's an anecdote about a time that will probably never come back: when striped sweaters were very popular among women, especially bankers, in the 1980s, Ana made and sold so many of them that she used the proceeds to build a part of the house that was being built at the time, which is still full of people, and where she and her husband still live today.And here's an anecdote about a time that will probably never come back: the 1980s. 

Petra Bauman, 1. 3. 2025