ST. GEORGE — In the fall of 2020 as the pandemic was in full swing, St. George News shared a story about a knitting group of women founded by St. George resident Valerie Johnson. After losing her husband, Johnson started knitting with friends attempting to be more social. As it turned out, she wasn’t the only one seeking companionship.
In two years, Val’s Gals, as they have since been named, have knitted 1,051 pieces of headwear that they donated to the Intermountain Cancer Center in St. George. As a result of spending so much time together, they have shared similar stories of losing a spouse, untangled mile upon mile of donated “yarn barf,” or used material that is donated in a messy pile, and recently mourned the loss of a member.
Johnson, now 90, meets with the women every Wednesday. She also enjoys a daily walk outdoors, bowling, volunteering to decorate events for Memory Matters Utah, a nonprofit providing services for dementia patients, and helping out her neighbors by doing things like putting the newspaper on the porch to make their life a little easier.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the best days of the week,” Johnson said. “To have this afternoon with my close friends and we’re accomplishing something, while chatting and nibbling on candy.”
Five knitters met for the first time in September of 2019, the same year Johnson’s husband passed away after a six-year battle with cancer. Now more than one dozen, Val’s Gals enjoy sharing stories about each other’s families, snacking, and listening to poetry from one of their members. Sadly, less than a month ago, Genny B. passed away. She taught several of the women in the group how to knit.
Sherri Bennett said she has enjoyed the art of knitting since she can remember. Her sister jokes with her that knitting is something “only Grandma’s do.” Still, she and some friends make the weekly trek from Diamond Valley for their dose of therapy, or time with Johnson and the gals.
“It’s like a lost art,” she said. “The great thing about it is, you get to donate to such a great cause. To be part of such wonderful people around me, it was awesome.”
During a bowling trip, Karen Balicki met Johnson and mentioned she was already knitting hats for a similar group in California, although it was much larger. After moving to St. George and finding Val’s Gals, she enjoys that they meet more than once per month.
“This is fun, it is a more intimate, smaller group and we meet once-a-week,” she said. “We enjoy sharing stories with each other and snacking on foods.”
Intermountain Cancer Center volunteer services coordinator Kim Lyons said donors like Val’s Gals, and many others in the St. George community, donate more hand-made goods to patients than many other hospitals in the Intermountain Healthcare community. A similar group named The Hand-crafter’s Guild also meets weekly at the cancer center.
“I can get emotional thinking about it, because of the service and time — I just picture Val’s Gals, all these ladies getting together for one purpose, and doing good, and serving their community,” she said. “And that is so cool to me.”
In a 2017 article, the University of California Los Angeles publication Mind Well reported that researchers found knitting to be therapeutic by providing a sense of calm, an increased ability to cope with both physical and mental illness and “was proven in one study to reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment, which is one of the many precursors of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.”
All of the yarn is donated to the group, mostly by word of mouth or from those who can’t knit anymore. Although the group has donated more than 1,000 caps to the hospital, Johnson has never actually seen one being worn by a recipient.
“That’s one thing I would love to do,” she said. “Some time when I am shopping in St. George, if I could run into somebody and be able to say to them, we made your hat.”
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