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Ted Schuman isn’t like most men his age. His favourite pastime isn’t golf or crib. It involves picking up a pair of knitting needles.
“I find it gratifying that someone can use what I'm doing you know,” Schuman said while knitting one of the dozens of tiny tuques lying around his apartment in a Spruce Grove seniors’ residence.
Schuman, 87, picked up knitting thanks to his wife Mary. The duo spent three years knitting tuques for homeless people in and around the Spruce Grove area.
“We did the tuques for the homeless for a while, but when the weather warmed they didn’t need them anymore,” Schuman said.
Mary suggested they turn their attention toward newborns who need the warm, cuddly hats year-round.
Schuman estimates they made about 2,000 tuques for newborns and homeless people.
Last September Mary died of cancer.
Schuman says it hasn’t been easy living without his wife of 66 years.
“All of a sudden you’re alone,” he said, “and that’s what’s really difficult to take.”
But knitting is a way for him to remain connected to Mary. In her absence, he’s still knitting — up to 100 tuques a month. He estimates he’s knitted close to 1,000 tuques by himself.
He drops them off at his doctor’s office, and they’re handed out to neonatal units at Covenant Health hospitals.
A couple of weeks ago, Schuman got the chance to come face-to-face with a newborn who got one of his tuques.
“We were in a hospice in Stony Plain and a little one was born two weeks early.
“The father brought it into me and I was making them in there too. He picked out one and put it on the little guy, and he was quite pleased to get one,” Schuman said with a smile.
At the Grey Nuns Community Hospital, Schuman’s work is well known.
If you step into any one of the many rooms, chances are a newborn is wearing one of his colorful creations.
Fort McMurray resident Zuriel Tiempo and his wife Lydia Rose Tiempo received a couple of tuques in early August after their son was born.
Baby boy Lyel arrived a month early. Lydia said she was rushed via air ambulance to the Grey Nuns where she gave birth Aug. 2.
The couple barely had a chance to collect their things before rushing off to Edmonton. The fact that their son got a few hats from Schuman has added to the whole experience being hundreds of kilometres from home.
“It was very overwhelming,” Lydia said. “It was a very sweet touch to be doing that for these babies.”
The couple joked that Lyel is very well behaved when he’s wearing his tuque.
Neonatologist Dr. Santiago Ensenat said the tiny tuques are a requirement for newborns, especially those born prematurely. The tuques help them retain heat.
“Having these special gifts give that personalized touch for the families,” said Ensenat, who works at the Grey Nuns. “It’s good also because they can take them home as a memento.”
For Schuman, the response has been overwhelming too. Along with the tuques in his apartment are many thank-you notes from countless families.
Various yarns of wool have also been donated too, helping him continue his cause.
“It’s gratifying to know I’m doing something useful,” he said.
“There’s not a lot you can do when you get to be my age.”