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South Florida women knit hats for newborn babies, cancer patients

Posted at 5:17 PM, Dec 31, 2018
and last updated 2019-01-01 14:10:05-05

ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jean Fulton loves to crochet or knit.

"I do it because I like to do it," said Fulton. "I don't have anybody to do it for. So I do it for charity, I do some for my daughter."

Every week you'll find Fulton and her friends crocheting or knitting together.

"It gives you a sense of spreading love,spreading love to others," said Joyce Wideman.

This group of friends stitches hats for newborn babies, then donate them to area hospitals.

They call themselves the Royal Stitchers.

"It's a quiet ministry, and some people don't even know we do this, but we love doing it," said said Evelyn Conklin.

"We started just with baby hats and then we got involved in prayer blankets," said Mary Smith, one of the women who started the group. "And we also make blankets for the veterans for the wheelchairs, and so the lapghans fit right over your lap."

They are using their talents to help strangers.

"If you are getting treatment for chemo therapy, usually it's really chilly in the room where you get the chemo therapy, and so they can put it right over them," said Smith.

The women use their own money to buy the yarn, which is something the ladies don't mind doing, though yarn donations are welcome.

"As we get older there are a lot of things we can't do, but there are some things that we can," said Conklin.

The newborn baby's family may never meet the Royal Stitchers, but Joyce said the gift comes with a message to let families know someone cares.

"Who knows, that little child that gets it, the mother may read the little tag and realize that somebody loves them," said Joyce Wideman.

The Royal Stitchers said they've stitched more than 1,000 baby hats this year.

Local hospitals have contacted them asking for hundreds more for the upcoming year.