BY SHARON FRICKEY
Three Gifts
you knitted me a doll-sized hat
to fit my tiny preemie head
it held in life-giving warmth
so my mom and dad could hold me
you crocheted us a blanket for our newborn
we’re no longer soldiers in Iraq
we’re mom and dad, back with our kids,
adjusting to civilian life
you knitted me a helmet liner
gave me something soft
between the reality of hard helmet
and my aching head
we ask —
who are you — why did you share
your time, your love — what made you care?
My own encounter with the gift of a knitted hat was personal. My youngest granddaughter, born nine weeks premature, needed a special environment to limit stress and keep her warm, fed and protected. Abby (her name shortened from Abigail to fit this tiny 3-pound, 6-ounce being) lived in a high-tech, plastic-topped miracle “isolette,” a substitute womb designed for her survival in the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Colorado Hospital.
A state-of-the-art facility, the NICU cares for preemies from all over Colorado, even receiving tiny patients from Wyoming and Nebraska. Swaddled in pre-warmed blankets, the babies in the hospital’s NICU may leave the comfort of their high-tech incubators with soft, hand-knitted hats atop their tiny heads to keep them warm.
Keeping a preemie warm is not just a matter of comfort; it’s critical to survival. Most preemies have very little body fat tissue as insulation and can’t regulate their internal body temperature on their own. Blankets don’t replace the warmth lost through a baby’s head, but a warmth-holding hat allows a baby to be out of the incubators to cuddle with Mom, Dad and siblings.
Rita Alexander, manager of the volunteer program at University of Colorado Hospital, coordinates knitters and seamstresses dedicated to helping newborns. Last year, the first eight bars of Brahms’ Lullaby played throughout the hospital 300 times, each time a celebration of a baby’s birth. Many of these babies’ mothers didn’t even have a baby blanket — donations helped keep the babies clothed and warm.
It’s the same in nearly every corner of the state with Colorado knitters and crocheters working passionately to transform yarn and thread into gifts for premature babies, families in need and even soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Unique circumstances may have brought many of these knitters and crocheters together, but all the groups share a common dedication to producing handcrafted gifts that impact lives in myriad ways.
Choosing which stories to share here was challenging; these small acts of kindness enriched my belief in the goodness of people.
Warm Beginnings for Babies
One passionate volunteer at the University of Colorado Hospital makes 25 amazing gift bags a month out of recycled material. Other volunteers fill those gift bags with pretty knitted caps, bibs and layettes. Still others’ work, sadly, is not for babies who will be going home from the hospital. Some of the volunteers are dedicated to creating beautiful burial gowns lovingly hand-worked and smocked, embroidered, tucked and beribboned.
Crocheters also shine as givers of gifts. Baby Bear Hugs (an affiliate of Colorado Bright Beginnings, a statewide nonprofit organization serving nine Colorado counties) focuses on preventing child abuse in the area it serves by supporting positive parenting, celebrating the birth of a baby and that baby’s development and providing positive support for parents of newborns. Three staffers run the program from a comfortable, quiet office in the basement of the Presbyterian Church in Sterling. However, they are dependent on an unlikely group of volunteers: inmates at the Sterling Correctional Facility.
In 2009, 35 inmate crocheters hooked 234 baby blankets using $3,500 worth of donated yarn (no state money is used for the program) and putting in 5,800 crochet hours. They crocheted until they ran out of donated acrylic yarn, and they are dedicated to providing every newborn in Logan County with a baby blanket. Those inmates were honored as the 2009 Volunteers of the Year for Logan County’s Baby Bear Hugs baby blanket program.
“With no classes, inmates are self-taught,” says Lani Michel, coordinator for the Logan County Baby Bear Hugs program. “A few picked up crocheting before prison, others learn from donated books. They help each other. Everyone’s a winner — the men who crochet, the babies and parents. Moms get the blanket and realize someone cares about their child and them. Because of the home visit to deliver the blanket, there’s an adult to talk to that day, along with a phone number to call if they need it.”
Erica Pijoan, a Baby Bear Hugs home visitor, is passionate about the baby-blanket program.
“About 14 months ago, we had a family new to Sterling,” says Joan. “For both parents, veterans of the Iraq war, reentering civilian life proved difficult. After they were separated from their children, their self-esteem about parenting was low. When their second child was born, we brought a blanket — the inmates keep us supplied with dozens — to their home, a safe environment for building trust. The blanket blew them away. Someone they don’t know, will never meet or even know by name made this for their baby.”
The blanket was an opening. The parents also got Bright Beginnings materials with basic parenting information. A relationship began, anchored by a blanket. “Now, after a year, this amazingly competent couple continue their education and feel confident as parents,” Pijoan says. “And it starts with a blanket.”
Dahlia Alexander, a Baby Bear Hugs bilingual home visitor, spoke about how taking the blankets into the homes helps her make a connection with the kids and creates positive experiences.
She recalls a visit with a 2-year-old whose older brother had already “graduated” out of the program, which only serves children up to age 3. After the visit, the older boy wanted a high five, and then the 2 year old, still wet from the swimming pool, reached up for a hug and a high five. Alexander ended up wet, but happy. “These are things I won’t forget,” she said.
Warmer Nights for Soldiers
Babies and kids aren’t the only focus for Colorado volunteers with yarn. Some volunteers knit and crochet helmet liners to help our armed forces, especially those deployed to remote outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops in these areas live with cold nights in the summer and times of extreme cold in fall and winter, and they need some type of headgear to fit under their combat helmets. Helmet liners made with synthetic fibers fuse with the skin at high temperatures. A soft, washable wool yarn, knitted into a hat to fit under the helmet, provides comfort and safety.
This project was started several years ago, and the need is still there. This spring’s surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan sent knitters back to their needles. Showing support for each man and woman serving in the military by providing comfort items like the helmet liners lets the soldiers know that no matter how we view war, we still stand with the warrior. We watched Vietnam vets — our fathers, husbands and sons — bear the backlash from the transferred anger of war, and we vowed “Never again.”
K*4*O*T (Knit for Our Troops) teams up with the Denver Public Library and the Rocky Mountain United Services Organization. The USO motto, “Until Everyone Comes Home,” keeps the donated helmet liners coming. Helmet liners dropped off at the Fresh City Life office at the Denver Public Library are sorted, labeled, bundled and sent to the USO at Denver Inter- national Airport and Fort Carson. Troops passing through the USO pick up the liners to stash in their backpacks to be ready when needed.
“They see the hats and say, ‘These are cool,’ as they try one on. They often ask if they can take some to their buddies,” says Hedy Margolis, center manager at USO at DIA.
More than 17,000 helmet liners donated through the program warm soldiers’ heads.
Corrected instructions for the hat liner
Instructions With circular needle, cast on 90 stitches. Being careful not to twist the cast on stitches, place stitch marker and join row together. Rows 1-3: K1, P1 ribbing. Row 4: Increasing 1 stitch in first stitch, knit around – 91 sts. Continue knitting every round for 4″ above ribbing. (Do not include the edge ribbing in the measurement).
Begin decrease: Round 1: (K11, k2tog) 7 times – 84 sts Round 2: Knit Round 3: (K10, k2tog) 7 times – 77 sts Round 4: Knit Round 5: (K9, k2tog) 7 times – 70 sts Round 6: Knit Round 7: (K8, k2tog) 7 times – 63 sts Round 8: Knit Round 9: (K7, k2tog) 7 times – 56 sts Round 10: Knit Round 11: (K6, k2tog) 7 times – 49 sts Round 12: Knit
(Switch to double pointed needles when rows become tight.)
Round 13: (K5, k2tog) 7 times – 42 sts Round 14: Knit Round 15: (K4, k2tog) 7 times – 35 sts Round 16: (K3, k2tog) 7 times – 28 sts Round 17: (K2, k2tog) 7 times – 21 sts Round 18: (K1, k2tog) 7 times – 14 sts Round 19: (k2tog) 7 times – 7 sts
Cut yarn, leaving a 6” tail. Thread tail through remaining 7 sts. Pull tight and secure.
K-HeLP, another project that provides knitted helmet liners to soldiers, accepts only 100-percent washable wool helmet liners and stresses sending helmet liners directly to troops. Deployed relatives often request extra liners for their unit. In the Yarn Outlet in Colorado Springs, a foam mannequin head sports a knitted wool helmet liner, a sample knit from washable wool from a pattern available at the store and online. Kae Elliott coordinates the volunteer K-HeLP program, which was started by Carla Kwek.
“After a recent move to Colorado Springs, I walked into the Yarn Outlet and saw a hatted mannequin and the note about the helmet liners under it,” says Elliott. “My nephew was deploying to Iraq. I didn’t knit, but thought I could probably do it. I left with directions, needles and a skein of soft, washable wool. I gave three helmet liners to my nephew as he deployed. His commanding officer saw his liner and thought it was great, so he gave it to him and gave the other two away as well. He deployed to an outpost with 30 other soldiers and wondered if we could get helmet liners for his entire unit. I got other knitters to help and we sent one for each soldier.”
Since then, Elliott has knitted dozens of helmet liners. The HeLP goal for wool helmets liners is 4,022 by January 1, 2011.
Susanne Harlandt, the station manager at the Fort Carson Red Cross, was deployed to Bagram Air Field in July for a four-month tour and took more than 300 donated helmet liners in her gear to distribute to the troops.
“Neither the Red Cross nor the Army nor any military unit has a budget to send donated helmet liners to troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan,” Harlandt says. “If sent in a package, it must bear the name and correct address of a soldier. If knitters want to mail hats and helmet liners to the Red Cross at Bagram, we’ll see that they get to the troops.” Mail wool knitted helmet liners to:
American Red Cross, Attn.: Team Leader, Bagram AFB, APO AE 09354
Caring Goes into Each Stitch
Each of the troops who receives a helmet liner values the comfort it provides, as well as the thought that someone back home cares. There is value in handmade items beyond the simple ability of the item to keep us warm or comfortable.
That was true for a U.S. veteran, who received a blanket from another group of dedicated volunteers. They meet at Barnes and Noble’s Boulder store where I recently saw several women circled together, knitting.
According to Bonnie Iris, an outgoing artist, they meet on the third Thursday — or “thereabouts” — once a month. Their schedule varies depending on what else is going on. However, their fingers seldom stay still. They knit when they are together, but their knitting also goes with them whenever they leave the house. One knitter told of “getting prepped for surgery and waiting in the room that opened out to the OR. “I pulled out my needles and knitted until they were ready for me,” she said. The results of all this knitting are given away to those in need.
Ruth Sachnoff, described by friends as a natural-born volunteer, started Knitters from the Heart 15 years ago. The group sews its label into donated adult- and child-size hats, mittens, socks, gloves, scarves, shawls for the elderly and lap blankets for veterans.
Once, when they had a chance to deliver their lap blankets to the Veterans Administration Hospital themselves, they were able to watch the vets chose the one they liked. One delighted gentleman’s choice became his favorite possession. After he died, his wife kept the blanket close at home and took it with her on trips where his blanket kept her company.
The group also donates items to Emergency Family Assistance in Boulder, the St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota and the Boulder County detention center for teens. Just like most charity knitters and crocheters, the members usually never meet the recipients of their work, yet the impact of their work is great.
These knitted and crocheted gifts may be small in the scope of the world’s demands, but these hats, liners, mittens and blankets were created with love and concern for others. They become significant in the heart of the receiver.
Hundreds of hands across Colorado are creating these projects as groups meet and friend coordinate their efforts. However, the needs of those who may benefit from this charitable giving are greater.
Preemies, those serving in the military and separated from loved ones, inmates in prison, families with newborns, the homeless, those in hospitals and hospices, elders isolated and alone — all could be comforted with a gift from the heart, a gift that is part of a long Colorado tradition of sharing a part of oneself through the click of a needle or the slide of a hook.