PHOTO COURTESY OF TONI MIEDEMA
Corrine Kahre of Wolsey poses with a small portion of the hats she has knitted to donate to Wolsey-Wessington School for students in need of some warm outwear this winter.
Posted
Angelina Della Rocco of the Plainsman
WOLSEY — During the colder months in South Dakota items such as hats and gloves are essential for everyday living. One humble Wolsey resident has been utilizing her knitting skills to make hats and donate them to local schools for students.
“And anybody else that wants one,” Corinne Kahre added with a smile. “I just finished my 108th hat.”
The Wolsey-Wessington school district as well as Huron Head Start have been grateful to receive Kahre’s donations to support the high need for hats from fall to spring.
“Many kids don’t have anything to stay warm in the winter,” explained Kahre. “I have so much yarn I have got to make something out of it and it gives me something to do.”
After accumulating more yarn than she knew what to do with, Kahre had the idea to make hats after noticing the donation box located at the school.
“I had all this leftover yarn from my mother and other family members, I knew it needed to be used up and they have a box at the school that has hats and gloves for kids to play at recess,” Kahre explained. “The kids really like the bright colored ones. When you have just a bunch of scraps of yarn you create some interesting and bright hats.”
Wolsey-Wessington K-8 principal Lindsay Haider said, “She makes beautiful hats. We appreciate everything the community does, they take care of our students and that’s very important. We have a high need for hats, we are lucky our community is very supportive.”
Not only has Kahre enjoyed donating hats for students and fulfilling a community need, she has also used her skills to knit items for family members and friends.
“I have made hats also for neighbor kids, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they all have one and I have another great-grandchild due in September,” kahre smiled. “All my coffee friends, I gave all their kids and grandkids one, some of them even went up to North Dakota.”
“I’d be sewing masks now if I had some elastic to do it,” Kahre added.
Kahre taught herself to knit approximately 60-years ago and began donating knitted hats a little over a year ago. After passing the 100 hat mark, she plans to continue to knit items and donate for winters to come.
“I’ve been knitting for a long time, I knit things for my kids when they were little,” explained Kahre. “It’s pretty warm now so I’ll keep knitting and give them to the schools next fall.”
