MAKING HATS FOR NEWBORNS

I may be 90 years old but I can still serve the Lord. So I’ve been making hats for newborn babies for 15 years. I’ve made over 11,000, and hope to continue making them until I’m 100! Jesus told us that we are to love and help one another, and this is one thing I can do at my age to demonstrate that love.

I think they look cute on the babies but they also serve an important medical purpose: the hats help stabilize a baby’s body temperature and keep the child warm as they adapt to life outside the womb.

This started for me back in 2006. My ladies group at church would stay after our meetings and take on a small project. One time, a nurse from the local hospital, UPMC Western Maryland, came and showed our group how to make an infant’s hat that looks like a toboggan. Our group did this a couple times, but I liked it and thought it was something I could keep doing at home. So, I did!

It takes me about 10 or 15 minutes to make one hat and I do about 10 in an evening. I have a roll of white stockinette fabric and I cut them into strips the size of a cereal box top. I fold them into a dome shape without seams because those might hurt the infant’s delicate skin; then I turn up the bottom and tie a blue or a pink ribbon on top. Someone from the hospital now drops off the fabric to me each month and when they do, I give them all the hats I’ve made that month to use in the labor and delivery rooms at UPMC Western Maryland.

It makes me feel proud that I can do this to give the babies a warm head to start life. And I’ve been told it also helps out the nurses so they can spend more time taking care of those precious little miracles. I’m just glad I’m able to show my love for Jesus in this way.