By Paula Koerner
March is my favorite month because it is my birthday month and also the anniversary of my Chicks with Sticks blog. I wanted to do something special to commemorate it every year and one of my students inspired me to collect baby blankets for NICU units. Her name is Donna and she is a summer visitor to Estes Park. I met her because she attends some of my classes when she comes to stay in the summer.
Donna is a retired school teacher but she has a volunteer job now. She cuddles babies in the NICU at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. She told me that a lot of the babies she cuddles are “drug babies” meaning that the mothers of these babies live on the streets and are on drugs and the babies are born addicted to drugs. Donna goes to the hospital every day to cuddle these babies. When she told me what she did I was amazed at the love and time she puts into this job. She plays such an important role in the wellbeing of these babies. After she left Estes Park for the winter I reached out to her to see how her class project was coming along. She said she was too busy knitting baby blankets for those beautiful babies so she had not had time to knit on her own project. You see, she wanted to make sure all of those babies who had nothing in this big world had something special to take with them when they left the hospital. So she knit baby blankets. I was so inspired by her commitment that on the first anniversary of my blog I reached out to our community to see if we could help her.
The first year in 2020 I was able to collect fourteen baby blankets that she took home with her to California in the fall. She was thrilled to take these additional blankets to the special babies. In 2021 I put the word out again and our amazing community came through with 75 baby blankets. That knocked her socks off. Her car was so full of baby blankets I am not sure how she was able to fit all of her own things in when she went home. Then in 2022, we blew the record away and I collected 164 baby blankets! Last year we were able to give away 92 baby blankets to various charities that support families and babies.
I am humbled and beyond grateful for all the love and support with this project. Now I am known for collecting baby blankets. I have already collected quite a few blankets for this year’s drive. This year I would love it if we could blow the previous record away too. I will make sure that the blankets get to various NICU units where they are needed and other local charities that focus on families.
I am so honored that we can help in some way with our gift of knitting, so if you have time to knit a baby blanket or two please would you consider doing so? I would love to collect as many as possible. Thank you so much. There are a few requirements:
- Please use a yarn that is machine washable.
- Avoid very lacy patterns as little fingers and toes tend to get stuck in the holes.
- Approximately 18” x 24” works really well for the bassinets but Donna suggests that any size blanket up to 40” x 40” is welcome.
- If you are local, I can pick up the blankets or you can drop them off to Peak to Peak Stitching at 363 E Elkhorn Ave. 2nd floor, Estes Park, CO.
- If you are not local, I would ask that you please mail the blankets to me at PO Box 272884 Fort Collins, CO 80527.
- Please include a note with your name and address when you mail or drop off your blankets so that you can be thanked properly.
If you need help finding a pattern, here are some patterns from Ravelry.
I can’t thank you enough for your support and generosity. As knitters we have a special gift and when you give your time, money and skills to such a special cause I hope you know how important you are. Remember that, “sometimes your heart speaks best through your hands.”
I take baby blankets all year long, it doesn’t have to be knit in the month of March. Please contact me at paula@chickswithsticksknit.com to coordinate a pickup or drop off.