Sandra Bouton (pictured here with her husband Joe) warmed the hearts as well as the heads of several of our Habitat families, when she donated her hand-knit hats this month.
Sandra and her friends been knitting to give to others for many years. When she lived in Williamsburg, Virginia, she was a member of a knitting group called the Knitwits. One of the Knitwits knitted watch caps each year for the seamen for their Christmas. To honor her Dad, who had been in the Merchant Marine during the war and was a commercial fisherman, Sandra started knitting 12 watch caps each year to donate. A little later, the Knitwits learned that third world babies were dying simply because of lack of body heat. They then knitted baby caps that were sent to the capital for distribution. Next came chemo caps for women who had lost their hair due to treatments.
Sandra knits more than hats. When a dear friend had a return of her breast cancer, Sandra came up with the idea for knitting her a prayer shawl, but one that the Knitwits would all knit on. So each week one Knitwit would take it home and knit on it, then return it for the next lady in the group. Sandra also knitted a prayer shawl for a cousin and one for her church prayer team. She made one for herself, that she always keeps her prayer shawl on the back of her knitter’s chair. It reminds her of what she’s doing when she knits.
Sandra knows one of our Habitat staff members, Marianne, from church. When she learned what Marianne did, she decided to knit caps for our homeowners this year. (Here are two of our veteran homeowners with Sandra’s hats.) Sandra’s story was so inspiring and her hats were so cute, that Marianne caught the knitting bug too. Take a look this adorable hat that Sandra made and donated to a little Habitat kid. 
Sandra told me, “The bottom line is really that it helps me probably more than those that get my knitting.” Isn’t this the true spirit of Christmas?