How to help
What: Knitting for Cancer group, which makes items for cancer patients
Where: Piqua YWCA
When: First Thursday of month, 10 a.m.
More info: 937-773-6626
Suzie Hawkes quickly makes a new participant in the Knitting for Cancer group feel at home while carrying on conversation with others on hand to knit and crochet hats and scarves for the local cancer care center.
Just over a year ago Hawkes heard a presentation at the YWCA Piqua by Jean Heath, director of the Upper Valley Medical Center Cancer Care Center.
Shortly after, the women were talking about what to do with their leftover bits of knitting yarn, Hawkes put two and two together, and the project was born.
More than 300 hats along with other items have been donated so far. Some donors make the items at home and leave them for the group.
“We have crazy ones, we have some crocheted, some like soft loom ones to wear around the house or sleep in,” Hawkes said of hats. “Some of the ladies got tired of making hats, so they went to lap robes.”
The donated items are placed on a table at the cancer care center with a sign welcoming patients to help themselves.
A special touch was added recently to the handmade items. A tag with a saying (“Focus on the Sunshine,” for example) is added along with a notation of the gift coming from the YWCA group.
During the February group gathering, a half dozen women touched on an array of topics including selecting patterns for projects, how they learned to knit/crochet and the proper size needles to use for projects.
One brought a bag of already completed hats, while others recalled how they’ve honed their knitting skills while watching sports over the years.
As word of the group’s activities has spread, the YWCA has had a couple of large donations of yarn from Dayton area women no longer able to pursue their love of knitting or crocheting.
“She was happy to know her precious yarn would be used for a project so important,” Leesa Baker, YWCA executive director, said of one woman’s donation of garbage bags filled with yarn.
While some continued to talk a few participants headed off to raid the YWCA yarn barn. There, the treasures included donated yarns and related items including needles, hooks, patterns, aging instruction books and other items including light up needles to allow knitting in the dark.
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