They’ve got Steelers spirit
Newborns at St. Clair Hospital’s Family Birth Center are wearing black-and-gold hats crocheted by Kim Erbrect and Audrey Rondinelli of Muse.
Kim Erbrect of Muse, left, and her sister, Audrey Rondinelli of Muse, pose with some of the hats they have crocheted and donated to St. Clair Hospital’s Family Birth Center.
Newborns in St. Clair Hospital’s Family Birth Center barely know their parents, much less Martavis Bryant and Ben Roethlisberger.
But the infants are among the fans in Steeler Nation who are rooting for the explosive duo today against the Denver Broncos in an AFC Divisional matchup by sporting black-and-gold caps crocheted by Kimberly Erbrecht and Audrey Rondinelli of Muse.
The sisters began donating tiny handmade hats to St. Clair in October, when they delivered more than 70 caps that resembled candy corn and pumpkins.
“We just ran with that. We’ve progressed,” Rondinelli said. “When you’re doing something and it’s got a destination, it makes it more fun. It revived us. We said, ‘Hey, we can do this.'”
Although an aunt taught the women how to crochet when they were teenagers, Erbrecht said, “I never really did anything with it.”
That changed, however, when she was diagnosed with glaucoma and had to quit her job.
“I wanted to keep busy. I can’t see. I can’t write or read,” Erbrecht said, “This is right in front of my face, and I can feel the stitches. … I can’t read patterns very well, but now with youTube, I thought, ‘I’ll try it.’ It’s step by step, and you can pause it. If you show me once or twice, I’m pretty good.”
It wasn’t long before she was hooked.
“I just started out one day crocheting, and said, ‘Oh this is cute,'” she said.
Erbrecht began by making hats for preemies in honor of her 6-year-old twin grandsons, who were born premature at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
“Every day, there was something in their incubator, and I like to give back to the community,” Erbrecht said. “I just enjoy babies. I’m so thankful ours are good and healthy. It’s just about giving back a little bit.”
Soon, her sister jumped on board, too, and she is enjoying every minute of it.
“We like to do crafts,” Rondinelli said. “When my sister’s eyes went bad, I said, ‘I think I can do it if the stitch is simple.’ We found something we could do, and it’s reasonable. Basically, it’s one pattern, and we’ve expanded it.”
Whenever Rondinelli is shopping, she’ll call her sister and ask Erbrecht what kind of yarn she needs. At Christmas, they gathered around the table and crocheted, reminding Rondinelli of an old-fashioned sewing bee.
“We like doing it, we really do, and the hospital is always very, very happy and appreciative. It makes you want to go on,” Rondinelli said. “We don’t have a schedule. We don’t have a time frame. She can crochet faster than I can. See does two to my one, then I fall asleep.” Erbrecht is expecting her fourth grandchild in February, and she’s already made a few caps for him, too. She said it takes her about 15 to 20 minutes to crochet a hat for newborns, and it takes about 10 minutes for preemie caps.
For Christmas, the women made snowman and Santa hats for the newborns at St. Clair. For the Super Bowl, they’ve made football caps in brown, pink and blue, and for Valentine’s Day, they are crocheting candy kisses.
Erbrecht also is considering crocheting frog caps for leap-year babies, and even though she hasn’t given much thought to Easter, bunnies, ducks and lambs quickly come to mind.
In addition, she has started to make headbands with roses, which are a big hit, along with tiaras for infant girls and crowns for infant boys.
“They are so appreciative up there, and so thankful,” Erbrecht said. “It makes me feel really good to be doing something for somebody so small who can’t express themselves.”
The sisters never saw the babies in the caps until Thursday, when they received pictures after delivering a batch of 120 caps.
“They did look cute,” Rondinelli said. “It makes you feel good that you’re doing something for somebody else. It’s a win, win, win.”