Zena Wilderman is warming heads and hearts at Thelma Crenshaw Elementary.
This is the second year that she encouraged her first grade students to design their own winter hats, then turned their designs into colorful crocheted caps. When she handed out the handmade hats to her students, the classroom filled with smiles and surprised joy.
Students came forward one by one, showed the class their design on paper, then opened gift bags containing the caps Wilderman had crocheted for them. All of the hats faithfully featured the bold stripes, bright colors and puffy pompoms of the paper designs.
Wilderman’s total hat count at Crenshaw Elementary is 30 this year and 25 last year. With each hat taking about 90 minutes, this year’s hats took about 45 hours — more than a full workweek!
“I love to crochet things for people in my life,” Wilderman said. “It just brings me such joy to see my students past and present wearing the hats I make for them.”
But caps are not the only items that she creates. Under the label Z’s Crafty Creations, she has been crocheting various items for many years, including plush animals (cats, chickens and bunnies), scarves, blankets and potholders.
Wilderman said, “I learned to crochet from a lady offering free classes at a craft store. I bought yarn and a hook, and it took off from there. It is very therapeutic for me.”
Seeing students wearing their special hats is a real mood booster, so you might say crocheting is therapeutic for the Crenshaw community too.
