| This time I would like to introduce you to one of our new coordinators. I am pleased to introduce you to April Gardner. April has been a member of Crochetlist for about four years now and coordinates the PMU list. April learned to crochet about 15 years ago while living in a shelter for abused women. She needed a way to pass the time and so a wonderful lady named Diane who was her roommate taught her to crochet. Some yarn and hooks had been donated and this roommate thought it would help April's morale to be able to create something with her own hands. April says "she was right." April says that her favorite to crochet with is yarn and that her favorite pattern is her piggy slipper pattern. April's favorite project to make was cancer caps for ladies who were going through chemo therapy with her two years ago. She told me that she went in with a cat in the hat kind of pattern and taught the other four ladies who were having chemo at the same time. Each of the ladies made a cap and wore it every week. When they finished their chemo they gave the hats to the nurses to pass onto others who could make good use of them. April's advice for newbies would be "if you can, try a wooden hook". She had some of the old Brittany hooks and she just loves them. Also she says "don't always follow the pattern. It is okay to add your own special touch to your items and have fun." April and her dh Don just recently celebrated their 5th anniversary. They met online. They have three furbabies: Sargeant who is a black lab, Spookye and Battye who are cats. They will be moving to Missouri next year to enable them to live closer to Don's mom and for April to be able to complete nursing school. April runs an adult foster care home now and also sells some of her crafts at local fairs. April told me that she was really thrilled to become involved with PMU as she had been on the receiving end of one when she was ill with a heart attack and later her cancer. April is also very involved with working on comfortghans and feels that both PMU (Pick Me Up) and HMB (Heartmade Blessings) are awesome programs. She has a comfortghan that she received and says it has gone with her through everything. She said that all the people she has met through these two programs have been wonderful. April WELCOME to the land of being a coordinator. |