Kids Summer Knitting Camp

There will be no lack of knitters in the next generation! So many of our customer's kids have been requesting a gathering of their own. We are happy to announce a Summer Knitting Camp for kids age 10 and up.

Here are the details:

Beginner and Intermediate sessions available
Classes meet Monday through Friday, 1:00-3:30 pm
Kids will make fun projects from scarves to purses.

Beginner: Learn to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off
June 5-9
July 10-14
July 31-August 4

Intermediate: Learn to work with circular and double point needles. Also learn to increase, decrease and read a pattern.
June 12-16
July 17-21
August 7-11

There will be a wrap up party for all groups to show and tell on August 13, 4-5 pm

Cost: $75.00 payable upon sign up
10% off project materials
Class Limit: 8 per class, minimum of 3

Call or stop by to register. String of Purls, 87th & Pacific @ Countryside Village, Omaha 402-393-5648

No Head Uncovered - Omaha's Premie Hat Angel

Among our richest experiences at String of Purls are the stories that dawn our doors. The knitting community here is made up of people walking through life in all its happiness, sadness, even comedy. Each day we see the many ways knitting touches lives. It might be a knitter visiting from far away whose spouse is going through a mediical treatment, a mother and daughter taking time to be together, a busy executive dropping by to momentarily escape the office (we won't tell....)

We have to share one special story. Last week our friend Madeline and her daughter stopped by to find a soft baby yarn. Madeline explained that she donates premie hats to Omaha's Bergan Mercy Hospital. I asked Madeline how long she had been making her hats. In an energetic voice she said that she had been knitting since she was 12, is now in her 80's, and began doing premie hats in 1993. This begged the question, "How many hats do you think you have made"? With a little encouragement from her daughter, Madeline said, "oh, 4000 or so". Amazing!

Madeline spends about two and a half hours per hat. (A grand total of 9500 hours!) No two hats are alike and each season she works in holiday themes.

Most touching of all are the small, small hats she makes for the families of the children who pass. "That way the grieving parents have something to take home with them at a very sad time".

Madeline says she knits the hats to "give back" for the close brushes she has had with her health as a child and adult. So many are the beneficiaries of Madeline's gratitude. Madeline, our hats are off to you!