- Della Neighbors spends much of her time knitting caps for the Elmore Baptist Association’s mission. She, along with several other women fashion goods using their talents so that the mission can help people in need.
Della Neighbors and the Elmore Baptist Association are on a mission to keep the world warm, one knitted hat at a time. The group meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. The group consists of women who offer their time crocheting, knitting and sewing to create items for those who are in need of warmth.
Neighbors joined the Tallassee Senior Center not long after her husband, James Neighbors, passed in 2006. Through the senior center, Neighbors connected with the Elmore Baptist Association seven years ago and she has been knitting for a cause since that time.
Neighbors was born in Red Hill and has lived in Tallassee since 1947. She once worked in the Mount Vernon Mill and this helped spark her interest in knitting.
“I worked in the mill 36 and half years,” she said. “After I married I bought a book for $10, teaching how to knit and crochet. Well, I’d bring home some of the course yarn from the mill and I would sit down and make out a pattern. If it didn’t work out, I’d pull it out until it did,” she said.
Since that time her interest in the hobby has continually developed.
“I love to knit and crochet,” she said. “I have made baby clothes, doylies and all sorts of things. I love to see how it turns out and then I give it away.”
According to Neighbors, she has knitted well near a thousand hats for the mission.
“I knitted these in one week,” she said, pointing at a batch of freshly knitted, brightly colored caps.
“I can make one in a couple of hours,” she said. “I could do it in my sleep.”
These caps and other knitted items may end up in far away destinations. For two years the group made knitted hats and other items for service members who were stationed on vessels docked in the Mobile Bay.
“We make dresses out of pillow cases to send to girls overseas.” Last year, a lot of them went to Maine because it’s so cold up there.
The Elmore Baptist Association mission has grown over time and today they depend heavily on donations to continue the efforts. However, there are times when Neighbors will reach into her own pocket to continue these projects.
“We go the second Tuesday of every month and I take my caps,” she said. “If they have collected any yarn they give it to me. I buy some myself.”
It gives me something to do and it’s relaxing.
While Neighbors has been knitting for the Elmore Baptist Association for seven years, she has been knitting for much longer.
“It’s been a long time. I’m 88 years old.”
Neighbors says she enjoys trying new knitting designs and is excited every time she has the opportunity to just that.
“If I see a new pattern that I haven’t used, I just have to seen how it will turnout,” she said.
With so much enthusiasm, Neighbors plans to crochet even more caps for the mission and she is thinking of teaching others how to knit and crochet.
If you would like more information on the Elmore Baptist Association mission, call 334-567-7321.
