Magic yarn offers an escape for kids in the hospital
Oct 5, 2017, 7:04 AM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 10:30 am
It began as one wig — a gift for a friend’s daughter who was battling cancer. It’s now a movement bringing magic to kids who need it the most.
Holly Christensen is an oncology nurse in Palmer, Alaska.
“One of the things I learned [as a nurse] is that I can’t do everything but I can do something,” Christensen said.
So, when a friend’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer she decided to make her a Rapunzel yarn wig. The wig starts with a crocheted beanie cap that Christensen then weaves with long strands of yarn. The yarn is shaped into a hairstyle and decorated.
The wig was a hit. She kept making them and now has a full blown non-profit organization called The Magic Yarn Project. She converted her one-car garage into a yarn workshop and cut back her hours as a nurse and the demand for the wigs grew. She gets volunteers to help her – mostly friends, family, and churches. But a new volunteer group just stepped up.
“We were first contacted by the prison saying that they wanted to get involved because they have women in the prison who crochet and they’d like to help crochet the beanies. And after crocheting several hundred beanies they asked if they could also learn how to make the wigs so they have been starting to make wigs as well,” Christensen said.
To date, The Magic Yarn Project has delivered 4,165 wigs to children.
The promotional video on the non-profit’s website also mentions that they held a workshop in Seattle recently and had a member of the Seahawks make a wig. I’m waiting to hear back about who that is, but have a feeling it might be Russell Wilson. He visits Seattle Children’s Hospital every Tuesday.
