Hi guys, happy to help with knitting stuff if I can. I came back to knitting and crochet about 5 years ago and did a lot of charity items, so for those who are looking for organisations to distribute their knitting, have a look at these sites:
http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/ (Loving Hands also takes sewn items and has a wide 'clientele' so you are bound to find something you can do)
http://cuddles-uk.org/ (Cuddles supplies hospitals with all sorts of items for premature babies, including burial layettes)
http://www.csv-rsvp.org.uk/site/knitting.htm (CSV-RSVP is the national organisation and branches are very much county-based. Their only rule is that items must be given to the recipient and not sold).
Plenty of patterns on these sites :)