There’s a reason why nearly all of the red, hand-knit hats displayed on a table at Hawthorne School’s Classroom 5 are small in size. They are meant for newborns and infants.
The hats, knitted on a circular loom, will keep tiny babies warm. The hats also serve as a visible reminder that February is American Heart Month.
Promoting heart healthy lifestyles and good heart health begins when a baby is born and into adulthood.
A law passed a few years ago in Maine requires all hospitals to test a newborn 24 hours after birth for congenital birth defects, including of the heart.
A program parent, Becky Smith, is the government liaison in Maine for the American Heart Association.
Becky Smith’s daughter, Cecelia, attends Family Focus.
“When I picked her up in the evenings, I had noticed that a lot of the kids seemed to enjoy knitting and making pom-poms. When I heard that Maine was going to participate in the Little Hats Big Hearts program, I immediately thought of FF,” Smith said of Family Focus. “The FF staff was incredibly enthusiastic. We just went from there.”
On this day, the upstairs classroom is a buzz of controlled activity. Some students continue to knit.
Third grader Sophia Frizzle uses a circular loom to build up rows of red yarn into a weaves bulky red yarn along a circular loom.
“It was really fun and it was going for a good cause,” said Emily Wallace, 11.
“We made 50 and that’s a record,” 10-year-old Tannar Gagnon, said.
Brianna Vose, 9, and Tiegan McAllaster, 11, also made hats.
It takes about 40 minutes to make one hat, the girls agreed, depending on the size.
Trent Estabrook, 10, said he has a February birthday.
“These guys are exceptional knitters,” said Cameron Moore, program director for Family Focus’ Hawthorne School-Age Program.
Participants used a loom, instead of knitting needles, to shape the hats.
Program Site Assistant Spencer Gilliam participated too, never imagining that he would one day knit hats.
“They didn’t even need a lot of prompting,” Moore said. “They all took off with it.”
The hats students knitted in Moore’s classes are the only hats made by children for children, according to Becky Smith. In other Maine communities, adults knitted hats for the program. The goal is to have 500 hats for distribution to Maine hospitals. Hats made in the Family Focus classes will go to the Maine Medical, Central Maine Medical and Eastern Maine Medical centers.
The Little Hats, Big Hearts program started in February 2014 in Chicago, the website heart.org notes. Three hundred hats were knit in the first year. Nearly three years later, knitters in 40 states shape the red hats in machine washable and dryable and cotton or acrylic medium to heavy weight yarns.
“Teaching other kids at a young age to think about other kids who may be having a tough time, I think, is very important,” said Smith.
The knitting project served another purpose, too.
“Doing something good for others helps your own heart,” Smith said.
lconnell@timesrecord.com
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