Yesterday, I met with Blanca Raphael, Coordinator Volunteer Services, at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. She gave me a brief but inspiring hands-on tour of the beautiful and useful items which have so generously been donated to the Hunstman Cancer Institute.  You’ve never seen so many lovely LOVELY crocheted hats!

My goal in meeting with her was to explain a plan to invite women in our stake/neighborhood, ages 8-180, to sew cotton knit beanies for women who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatments. Blanca especially liked our idea of adding funky, rough-cut, boutique style, decorative headbands to the beanies so that the women can sport a fun, current, scrap-art look, while they battle the beast.

Knowing that I may need to be teaching this simple sewing skill during the next few weeks, I decided to give it a go.

The things I liked best about this project were 1.) no instructions 2.) no expense (using up leftover fabric ends)

and 3.) no limit to the good clean creative fun. The headbands, or demi-scarves, are a make-it-up-as-you-go-along adventure.
The looks evolve as random bits and pieces are added. This is fabric art for the masses.

I’ve enlisted the truly expert help of my sister, Virginia, to figure out how to copy a knit beanie from the Gap. She’s probably unpicking right now. Our hope is to buy $1 t-shirts and reconstruct them into soft, breathable, comfy, caps. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

My favorite part of last month’s visiting teaching message was from Elder Robert D. hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “It is important to understand that self-reliance is a means to an end. Our ulitimate goal is to become like the Savior, and that goal is enhanced by our unselfish service to others. Our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance.”  That guidance helps me to understand self-reliance as preparations made in order to have more to give!

D&C 82:18-19  And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become the common property of the whole church–Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.