NEW COLUMBIA — Hats are on the minds of several patrons of the New Columbia Senior Center.
Specifically, knitted, woven or crocheted hats. Drop in at the center, in the rear of Trinity United Methodist Church on Third Street, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Fridays between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and you’ll find Sally Smith, Mary Huff, Virginia Beck and Fairy Moser settled comfortably in a corner, turning out colorful hats at a great rate.
Smith, of Lewisburg, who said she will be 90 on Halloween, is one member of the group. “I’ve crocheted 30 hats and woven 13 on this loom,” she said proudly.
Peggy Diehl, manager of the center, explained that the four had been making blankets for Project Linus for years, and when she delivered their most recent work to Annie Smith, director of the American Red Cross in Lewisburg, Smith asked her whether they would be interested in making hats.
“She is also head of MOMMA in Mifflinburg,” Diehl said. “They send supplies to soldiers in Afghanistan, and she told us they had asked for hats to give to the children over there.”
That’s all it took, Diehl said. She went on the Internet and found a couple of patterns. She told the ladies about Smith’s request, and everyone was excited about the project.
Huff, of Watsontown, was working away on her third hat. “I’m just getting started and learning to crochet,” she said.
On Tuesday, two people from the Millersburg Senior Center were visiting. Volunteers there had given a large number of hats to Project Linus, but since that group’s mission is to provide blankets for babies, it was unable to use the hats. The Project Linus manager asked Diehl if she knew anyone who could use the hats made by the Millersburg center, and she snapped them right up.
Darlene Swab, one of the visitors from Millersburg, said about 10 people at that center make hats.
“I’m the only one who uses a loom,” she said. She said a friend told her about the looms, and she was the one who passed the idea on to Diehl. The loom is a plastic circle with pegs on which the yarn is wrapped. The weaver then uses a crochet hook to weave the hat, making smaller and smaller circles.
Swab was accompanied from Millersburg by Debbie Joseph, whose fingers flew as she crocheted a baby blanket. “My sight is limited, so I learned how to crochet by feel,” she said.
The six women chatted about all sorts of things as they worked, and after a while, Smith and Huff went to the kitchen to help get the day’s lunch together, while the others kept working and talking.
“Just think,” said Diehl, “a little hat brought all these people together.”
The women have made 134 hats since they started in mid-August, and their goal is 200 before they are shipped in November.
Annie Smith dropped by, and she explained that American soldiers in Afghanistan will give the hats to community leaders, who will then distribute them to children in their towns.
“That way, it doesn’t look like everything is coming from the Americans,” she said.
Diehl had the hats displayed on two tables at the center. There were a variety of colors and combinations of colors, and everyone ooo-ed and ahh-ed over a couple of tiny hats for babies.
“We’re all so blessed here,” Diehl said. “We don’t mind sharing our blessings.”
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Wayne Laepple/The Daily Item
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