Two ladies from the OLLI group that we met with in February stopped by Amy's house on Wednesday, June 19, 2013 to donate some beautiful knitted hats. See post on our visit to the OLLI knitting group here.

 Nancy, from the OLLI group that we visited in February, stopped by to drop off hats for Team Yarn! Accompanying her was her friend, Shelley.

Shelley & Nancy looking through the yarn stash! Anyone can stop by to look through the yarn and pick some out for Team Yarn projects. Just send us a facebook message or email, and we'll set up a time!

“Thank you. This is wonderful. The kids are going to love them,” Elizabeth Haymaker told us as we dropped off two boxes of hats at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital - Journey Clinic in Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

In all, there were 104 hats, scarves and shawls made by 13 Team Yarn volunteers that filled the boxes donated to Amplatz. These donations brought our overall total up over 450 items.

“Being able to actually do something has its benefits,” Team Yarn co-founder Amy Pass told the Amplatz representatives. “I needed to do something that was calming after my mom passed away.”

Accepting our donation on behalf of Amplatz were Elizabeth Haymaker and Tara Poncelet.

Elizabeth and Tara both earned undergraduate degrees in psychology and master’s degrees on the East Coast in Child Family Life. Their job is to help kids figure out their diagnosis and deal with it. They see many cases of leukemia and lymphoma, but also many rare types of cancer. “There is a wide range,” said Tara.

Children age 0-25 are treated at Amplatz. Some are outpatient and some inpatient. Each month, roughly 1,000 kids go through the Amplatz outpatient clinic.

“We do a lot of hands-on and interactive activities to help kids understand what’s going on at their level,” explained Elizabeth.

They field lots of questions. Kids are concerned about hair loss. They wonder what is going on with their bodies. They want to know if they can still do the things they’ve always done.

When it comes to choosing a hat, kids at Amplatz are all different. Some want one that’s a certain color. Others want a different hat for each day. They view a hat like a hairstyle, and want lots of variety. Some just want a hat that keeps their head warm. Others care a great deal about texture.

We told Elizabeth and Tara that Team Yarn members would be happy to take requests from anyone that wants a certain type or color, or wants matching hats. It looks like they’re going to take us up on that in the future. We’ll post more when we have it.

Tesha, Kelli and Josey in the lobby at Amplatz

Amy and Josey waiting for the light to turn green to cross the street.

Amy displays Kelli McCully's oh-so-soft shawl.

Introducing ourselves to Elizabeth Haymaker and Tara Poncelet of the Child Family Life department at Amplatz.

Ooooing and ahhhing over beautiful hats

What a fun hat!

Goodbye for now

The man behind the hospital: Karl Amplatz, MD.

We had another beautiful afternoon at Silverwood Park on Father's Day this month! The weather was lovely, the kid's activity was making bug houses, and I heard that the new Spiced Cold Press is fantastic (from Kelli, who is holding one in her hand right there)!

Linda & Kelli laid out a pile of yarn to find just the right colors and textures to finish their current projects...

We all admired Linda's new shawl & the simplicity of its pattern, which starts in the corner, rather than with one big long chain...

And then we admired Kelli's first shawl project, which Kelli says is "all about texture." 

Gabe modeled the Thor hat while everyone helped decide what color should go around the wings...

Then Tesha got busy finishing up the hat...

Sandy may not have time to crochet a lot over the summer, but she managed to whip out an entire hat in a couple of hours...

Gabe & Brad (the dads at our Father's Day meeting) hung out with us, chatted, worked, and went for walks with the kids & grandkids...

On Tuesday we took the hats from May & June to Amplatz Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Watch for that blog post coming soon!

We had some lovely shawls donated to Team Yarn at the May 2013 meeting. Check them out and get inspired!

Beautiful shawl by Brenda Lewis

Brenda's work in progress

Fun shawl by Linda with sleeves and matching hat.

Thanks to some great spring weather, we met outside at Silverwood Park for our May 2013 meeting. It was a lovely day, full of the pieces that make our meeting so meaningful: good conversation, tips, inspiration, and coffee.

Amy taught two people how to crochet! Her dad, Brad, thought he'd try it out. Then a young girl at Silverwood with her family for the day wandered over. Intrigued, she asked what we were doing. One thing led to another, and soon she was sitting down with a needle in hand like the rest of us.

This month's donations will be going to Amplatz Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.

This little girl learned how to crochet during our meeting. She was at Silverwood Park with her family for the day.

Amy taught her dad, Brad, how to crochet, as well at our May meeting. See a video on our Facebook page!

The rain held off until our meeting had ended, but it posed a bit of a challenge to us stragglers! Here, Aurora takes shelter under a table.

Kelli browses through Tesha's book on prayer shawls to get ideas for her next project. See post here for more on this great book.

Yum. A cold drink from the Silverwood coffee shop.

Linda's show and tell. One of the most inspiring parts of our meetings is seeing the beautiful things others have made.

Amy hands out business cards. A card is attached to each item we donate. Those who attend our meetings typically write an encouraging note on the back.

Hats by Kelli McCully

Amy documenting our meetings. (We made sure the cameras were out in May after we both forgot to snap any photos at the April meeting!!)

Brad and Axel - he's quite the distraction!

How's a mama to get anything done? Tesha & Axel.