BEMIDJI -- Each hat Kathy Burger knits for newborns at Sanford Bemidji takes about 3.5 hours and needs 3,582 stitches.
A few hats each week -- four if she puts her mind to it -- for 17 years means about 7 million total stitches, she estimates.
And, earlier this month, the longtime volunteer knit her 2,000th hat.
“This recent milestone Kathy has reached just shows the compassion our volunteers have for the patients at Sanford,” said Kari Knudson, the hospital’s volunteer services manager.
Burger said she’s not sure which pastel-colored hat in her most recent batch was her 2,000th. She’s been knitting voraciously for at least 50 years.
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“I knit all the time,” Burger said. “I had a girlfriend in high school teach me how, and I haven't really stopped.”
The hats leave the hospital with newborns such as LoRaeh Spears, an eight-pound, 12 ounce baby born Dec. 26 who got a sky-blue hat from Burger. (New regulations mean hospital workers usually give out the hats as a newborn and their family are heading back home.)
“Do you want your hat back?” Spears’ mom asked Burger as she and a handful of Sanford staffers left the room.
“That’s hers,” Burger said with a smile.
