A group of Cape Town women have been clacking their knitting needles and crochet hooks away to make brightly coloured and personalised care bags containing sanitary towels and "a little bit of bling" for girls whose families' finances are a little woolly at the moment. 

Erna Schmitt from The Wool Corner in Table View, which is in the north of Cape Town, said this year, 20 women made 156 bags, letting their imagination run free with patterns that range from mandals to monochromes. 

Between them, they sew the crocheted or knitted patches together, put the handles on and fill them with a combination of sensible stuff and spoils. 

This includes sanitary towels, toiletries and, just for fun, a little pair of earrings and some nail polish. 

They are handed out at the beginning of the school year to children who are at schools in Atlantis and Dunoon, who have been flagged as being in need of a little boost. 

Schmitt said that by the time school starts some families' finances are dry after buying school uniforms and stationery and there is nothing left for extras.

"For a term, the parents don't have to worry about buying anything," said Schmitt of the personal items that the girls sometimes have to do without.

"It was a wonderful team effort," she said.