Kristina Connolly learned to knit three years ago after spending two months at an inpatient treatment center for girls with severe eating disorders. Her first project, a simple patch-work scarf, was far from perfect. But despite all of its flaws, Connolly’s first scarf is still her favorite.
A year after leaving Remuda Ranch, the Virginia treatment center where Connolly recovered from anorexia, she decided she wanted to give back to the center by knitting scarves for the girls who were receiving treatment over the holidays.
Connolly enlisted the help of the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity and local yarn shops to knit 60 homemade scarves in 2008. She did not stop there. Last year, Connolly’s personal project expanded so much that she was able to give scarves to two Chicago-land treatment centers as well as Remuda Ranch. The 120 scarves she collected were each unique and came from all over the United States. With each scarf, Connolly attached a letter explaining the significance of her first scarf, and how it reminds her that true beauty comes from imperfections.
“It reminds me every time I wear it that it is okay to be less than perfect. It is actually more than okay — it’s better. It’s what makes me and my scarf different from all the others,” Connolly wrote.
For girls recovering at Remuda, the holiday season can be lonely. Most patients do not get to leave the facility; those who do can only leave for a day-trip on Christmas Day.
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Brooke Hartwell was Connolly’s roommate at Remuda, but when Connolly finished her treatment right before Christmas, Hartwell was still in her recovery process. Her family visited her for the day, but Hartwell said it was still a Christmas away from home.
When Hartwell learned of Connolly’s scarf project, she said she jumped at the opportunity to give back to a program that helped her find herself after years of struggling with an eating disorder.
“Every single day I think about Remuda and how much of a positive impact it had on my life, and how it makes me who I am,” Hartwell said. “I’ve been in those shoes. I want (the patients at Remuda) to understand they don’t have to live with an eating disorder.”
Hartwell, who had never knit a stitch in her life, bought some yarn and needles and Connolly taught her the fundamentals.
“For me, it was hard to learn. I can still only do the basic stitch,” Hartwell said. “It’s not the fact that it has to be perfect. I don’t want them to think they have to be perfect. It’s going to be a beautiful scarf (and) I’d rather they see the whole picture than the little mistakes in it.”
Once she got the hang of it, Hartwell “knit like crazy” and made 12 scarves to give to Remuda last year.
Claire Fisher, junior in Business, has been a knitter since kindergarten, but said she had retired her knitting needles until she learned about Connolly’s project through their business fraternity. She said it takes her about 30 hours to knit an average scarf, time that she says is “totally worth it” to comfort someone battling an eating disorder.
“The girls that are receiving the scarf are going through so much trying to improve themselves, and if I can do something as little as donate 30 hours of my time, knit a scarf (and) show them that I’m in solidarity with them and support what they’re doing, I will gladly do it,” Fisher said. “Even if I didn’t know how to knit I would learn how just to provide this comfort for the person receiving this scarf.”
Connolly is continuing the project this year as well, even though she is spending her fall semester abroad.
Fisher is her on-campus contact for any students wishing to contribute a scarf and can be reached at [email protected].
“I’ve always enjoyed philanthropy and this is something that I’m personally connected to so it’s even closer to my heart,” Connolly said.