Walking into the foyer of the Magee-Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it’s not uncommon to see a circle of ladies saddled with balls of cotton and yarn.
They form a volunteer group of knitters who donate their time and expertise to hand make beanies for the hospital’s newborn babies and chemotherapy patients.
While you’ll find them working away at any time of the year, the festive month of December is a particularly special month for the knitters.
Babies born in the days leading up to Christmas are usually given tiny red, white and green caps and swaddled in a stocking.
But this year the knitters went one step further and transformed the whole ward into a mini North Pole with four little reindeer and one tiny Santa.
“Knitting caps for the newborns is always a fun project,” the group’s head knitter Dena Chottiner tells SBS.
Along with their baby beanies, the group hand-made little Christmas outfits for the December newborns this year Source: Supplied
An adult-sized Santa came to visit the ward on Friday Source: Supplied
“The caps are so little and cute, and we can be creative in the ways that we knit them.
“We use special baby yarn to make sure the caps are especially soft. The best part is seeing how cute the babies look in the caps when they are on their way home.”
Every baby born at the hospital over the festive season goes home with one of the group’s beanies, but Chottiner - who is Jewish - notes that Christmas isn’t the only holiday they celebrate.
“We also make Hanukkah-inspired caps to ensure that all babies have a cap that is meaningful to them to take home once they are discharged from the hospital.”
Chottiner set up the Magee knitters group a couple of years ago. She tells SBS: “I knit because the patients truly appreciate what we do, and we have the ability to provide them with something they need.
The knitters also make Hanukkah caps for Jewish families Source: Supplied
The Magee knitters can be found in the hospital's foyer every Friday morning Source: YouTube
“The families of the newborn babies are always thankful that they can take home a cap that was made with love.”
The breast cancer survivor adds the group also knits caps for chemotherapy patients.
"It feels good to give back to so many people, young and old, in this way.”
Last year alone, Chottiner and the group donated nearly 1,500 caps to patients at Magee, and they look set to make even more over the next 12 months.
“This group started with just four people, and we are now up to more than 10 women every month, which is the maximum our space can accommodate,” Chottiner says.
“There are even women who knit at home to help with our effort. We currently have a waiting list to join the group, which is beyond what I could have ever expected when we started just a few years ago!”
This year, a number of newborns were dressed up as reindeer for Christmas Source: Supplied
The volunteer knitting group has grown so big over the past few years that they now have a waiting list for people to join Source: Supplied
While babies will always have a special place in her heart, Chottiner says the most rewarding and meaningful volunteering she does is for the oncology ward.
“A woman came up to me while I was shopping recently and I recognised the cap she was wearing as one that our group had knitted," she says.
"She knew that I was a Magee knitter and she thanked me repeatedly for the hat and told me how much it meant to her to wear it.
"Knowing that we have made such a difference in her life and the lives of others is heartwarming.”
In previous years, babies at the Magee-Women's Hospital have been swaddled in stockings over Christmas Source: Facebook
