“They call me the hat lady,” giggled Detroit Lakes woman Louanne Gerdes, sitting among the many knitting projects that dot her basement. She admits that the process of knitting a wool hat is one that tends to move like molasses in January, even for those who know what they’re doing. “If you sit there and do it all day, you can maybe get two done,” said Gerdes, who, according to those estimations, would have had to sit for 43 and a half days doing nothing but knitting in order to finish her latest charitable donation. “Right here I’ve got about 75 hats and 12 scarves,” said Gerdes. Her time, efforts and money will soon appear to be growing on trees around Detroit Lakes - the Damien mitten trees. Those are the trees seen around the area full of hats and mittens for people in need. “Well, I made about 50 hats for the trees last year, but I heard they ran out, so I told them I’d see what I can do,” said Gerdes, who knows better than anybody how much time she’s spent on the hats, but doesn’t seem to think a thing of it. “If you have the tools and you can use them to give… for the betterment of somebody else, why not do it?” she said. “So that’s just what I do. I knit.” She knits “I was about 10 when I learned how to knit and crochet,” said Gerdes, who was born in raised on Summit Avenue, where she still lives today. “My mother taught me,” she said, adding that she put down those knitting needles during her teen years, but picked them back up after she got married and started having babies. She had nine of those. “I knit hats, sweaters, booties, slippers, dishrags…” she said, trailing off. It’s a clear indication she cannot even begin to wrap her head around the sheer number of items she has created over the years. Throughout her 30 years as a paralegal and raising nine children, knitting has remained her thing; her hand-made, heart-felt way of showing she cares.
“I’ve made bed dolls and doll clothes for all my daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters...” said Gerdes, who has now lost her husband and one son, but continues to gain a whole clan to knit for. “I’ve made hats for all the new little babies. In their first box of stuff, they always get a hat. We’re the Gerdes nation now,” she joked, trying to count the number of “greats” that were born this year. “We’re a nation that’s growing,” she laughed, adding that a couple of her daughters and granddaughters now knit as well. “And my son can crochet like a son of a gun,” she said, proudly. Gerdes doesn’t run out of family members to knit for, but she doesn’t leave complete strangers out in the cold either. “I’ve donated hats to the Salvation Army, the V.A. Hospital, and I’ve donated to the Damien Mitten tree for years and years,” she said. It can be a spendy habit with all of the yarn she goes through, but she has good friends that give her their left-overs, and she certainly uses every scrap she’s got as well. She doesn’t bother with patterns anymore though; going by the book isn’t really the way she rolls. “I could never teach anybody to do it because I don’t do it correctly according to the book - I just do it my way,” she said. “It comes out ok.” That’s the modest part of Gerdes coming out. Brilliant colors are tightly woven into perfect rows that are stacked to make one hat after another. She knows the TLC she puts into the hats won’t be thought about by all of the recipients, but she doesn’t let it slow her down. “They said they had a lot of kids between the age of 10 and 13 that they didn’t have enough hats for, so I geared on that,” said Gerdes, who says she has no plans to retire her trusty knitting needles. She breaks them out while watching TV, listening to music, and takes them with when going out of town. “I like to be able to do it; I’m glad I can do it, and I’m glad they can be used. I’m glad I can help fulfill that need,” said Gerdes. “I’ve got arthritis from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, but I’ll just keep on going until I can’t go anymore. It’s what I do. I knit.” Tweets by @DLNewspapers“They call me the hat lady,” giggled Detroit Lakes woman Louanne Gerdes, sitting among the many knitting projects that dot her basement.She admits that the process of knitting a wool hat is one that tends to move like molasses in January, even for those who know what they’re doing.“If you sit there and do it all day, you can maybe get two done,” said Gerdes, who, according to those estimations, would have had to sit for 43 and a half days doing nothing but knitting in order to finish her latest charitable donation.“Right here I’ve got about 75 hats and 12 scarves,” said Gerdes. Her time, efforts and money will soon appear to be growing on trees around Detroit Lakes - the Damien mitten trees.Those are the trees seen around the area full of hats and mittens for people in need.“Well, I made about 50 hats for the trees last year, but I heard they ran out, so I told them I’d see what I can do,” said Gerdes, who knows better than anybody how much time she’s spent on the hats, but doesn’t seem to think a thing of it.“If you have the tools and you can use them to give… for the betterment of somebody else, why not do it?” she said. “So that’s just what I do. I knit.”She knits“I was about 10 when I learned how to knit and crochet,” said Gerdes, who was born in raised on Summit Avenue, where she still lives today.“My mother taught me,” she said, adding that she put down those knitting needles during her teen years, but picked them back up after she got married and started having babies. She had nine of those.“I knit hats, sweaters, booties, slippers, dishrags…” she said, trailing off. It’s a clear indication she cannot even begin to wrap her head around the sheer number of items she has created over the years.Throughout her 30 years as a paralegal and raising nine children, knitting has remained her thing; her hand-made, heart-felt way of showing she cares.
“I’ve made bed dolls and doll clothes for all my daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters...” said Gerdes, who has now lost her husband and one son, but continues to gain a whole clan to knit for.“I’ve made hats for all the new little babies. In their first box of stuff, they always get a hat. We’re the Gerdes nation now,” she joked, trying to count the number of “greats” that were born this year. “We’re a nation that’s growing,” she laughed, adding that a couple of her daughters and granddaughters now knit as well.“And my son can crochet like a son of a gun,” she said, proudly.Gerdes doesn’t run out of family members to knit for, but she doesn’t leave complete strangers out in the cold either.“I’ve donated hats to the Salvation Army, the V.A. Hospital, and I’ve donated to the Damien Mitten tree for years and years,” she said.It can be a spendy habit with all of the yarn she goes through, but she has good friends that give her their left-overs, and she certainly uses every scrap she’s got as well.She doesn’t bother with patterns anymore though; going by the book isn’t really the way she rolls.“I could never teach anybody to do it because I don’t do it correctly according to the book - I just do it my way,” she said. “It comes out ok.”That’s the modest part of Gerdes coming out.Brilliant colors are tightly woven into perfect rows that are stacked to make one hat after another.She knows the TLC she puts into the hats won’t be thought about by all of the recipients, but she doesn’t let it slow her down.“They said they had a lot of kids between the age of 10 and 13 that they didn’t have enough hats for, so I geared on that,” said Gerdes, who says she has no plans to retire her trusty knitting needles. She breaks them out while watching TV, listening to music, and takes them with when going out of town.“I like to be able to do it; I’m glad I can do it, and I’m glad they can be used. I’m glad I can help fulfill that need,” said Gerdes. “I’ve got arthritis from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, but I’ll just keep on going until I can’t go anymore. It’s what I do. I knit.”Tweets by @DLNewspapers
