"Thank you so much," Allison Stratton told us when we dropped off 88 items at Southdale Hospital on April 23, 2018. She praised the creativity, uniqueness and quality of the 70 hats, 8 scarves, 3 blankets, 3 cowls, and 2 shawls. Plus, this batch of donations included 2 fiddlemuffs - items great for fiddling with during a cancer treatment.

See more about Southdale here.

JoAnna with her mom Bernice

In April 2018, we didn't meet up because Team Member JoAnna Keocher's funeral was on Saturday, April 14, the day of the huge spring snow storm in Minnesota. But we did receive a box in the mail with handmade items from Jen R. with 12 hats, a teddy bear and 7 scarves!

We will all dearly miss JoAnna, the woman who made hats for others while being treated for her own cancer. She left us suddenly on Easter morning when we were all hopeful she was getting better. Her smile and bright attitude in the face of her own struggle inspired us all. She is not forgotten.

More about JoAnna. 

JoAnna G. Keocher, age 42 of North Branch passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, April 1, 2018 at Fairview Lakes Regional Medical Center in Wyoming.

JoAnna was born on July 16, 1975 in Forest Lake to parents Millard “Sam” and Bernice (Slater) Fynboh. She attended schools in North Branch and graduated in 1993. She married Brian Keocher on September 16, 1996 in McGregor, Minnesota. JoAnna worked in the office at Wyoming Machine for several years. She loved scrapbooking, being a Dance Mom to her daughter, Samantha and she was very involved with Team Yarn in Blaine knitting hats for cancer patients.

JoAnna is survived by her husband, Brian, daughter, Samantha; mother, Bernice Foster of Amery, WI and her sister, Susan (Bruce) Parks of Wilsall, MT and special friends, Troy and Laurie Franklin of North Branch. She is preceded in death by her father, Millard “Sam” Fynboh. 

 Look at our happy faces! Attending a warm and friendly Team Yarn meet-up is a wonderful way to spend a few hours on a Sunday. We received 15 total items in March.

I love gathering with you all at Silverwood in the winter, cozying up with a hot cup of coffee and a skein of yarn. In all, you brought in 39 blankets, hats, shawls, and even a neckwarmer!

by Amy Pass, Team Yarn Co-Founder

Happy Birthday, Team! We’re 5 years old - a whole half a decade! I am so proud of you and your commitment to making the world a better place, saving the world one stitch at a time. In 2017, you collectively made 785 items, including 46 blankets and 18 shawls, which put us at a grand total of 3,877 since our beginning!

Team Yarn donated to 8 different facilities this year and several family members and friends of team yarn. Our list of donation sites this year included: The University of MN Children’s Hospital, Hope Lodge, HCMC, Ronald McDonald House, Fairview Southdale Cancer Care Center, St. John’s Hospital, the U of M Cancer Care Center, and the VA Medical Center.

We especially want to acknowledge those who took 1st-5th place as top contributors this year. Team Yarn could not reach nearly so many people without them. Jody Gilbertson from Beldenville, WI held on to her position as our top contributor with a total of 235 items! We are amazed at Jody’s continued commitment to Team Yarn, as she has never met any of us in person! She even got her mom involved, and we received such beautiful items from both of them! 2nd place goes to Linda Moore, who made 119 items, followed closely by Sandi Fischer in 3rd with 110! Bernice Foster and Sandra Slater tied for 4th place with 84! How did they do that?! Did they plan it? 84 is such an exact number... And 5th place goes to another woman we have never met, Tammy Nelson, who donated 34 items this year. And, get this, just for kicks, there’s ANOTHER tie for 6th place - Joanna Koecher and Char Cervenka each made 26 hats! Are you as amazed as I am?!

We want to give a very special thanks to Joanna, who battled Leukemia in 2017, and now has a clean bill of health! She sat in the hospital during her chemotherapy treatments making hats for “cancer patients”...and seemed to never lose her sense of humor about it! Joanna, you are amazing and inspiring!

We are so very grateful for the work of every single person on this Team. Just last week I received a personal thank you note, passed along by one of the nurses from one of the patients at Health East Cancer Care Center in Maplewood. This one was addressed to Linda, but it really represents the work that all of you do,

“Linda, Thank you for the beautiful pink hat you crocheted for St. John’s cancer patients. I will wear it when my hair falls out. It will keep me very warm when I go for short walks outside and in my house. God bless you for what you do. All my love, Marilyn H.”

So simple and so beautiful. The world is made more beautiful in these small acts of kindness...in your small acts of kindness...in the creativity and artistry you are willing to invest in a gift for a stranger. Your care and kindness go out with those hats and blanket, shawls, cowls, and “fiddle-muffs.” And that kindness is felt. Thank you.