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Read stories from our past Red Heart Ambassadors:
Susan Anderson - More Than a Badge . . . Girl Scout Knitting is Life Changing
Rosemary Sahr - Knitting Gives Hugs to Children Around the World
Jack Checkley - Jack Checkley Champions Yarn Crafts . . . Single Handedly!
Kathy Anderson - Red Heart Lover Kathy Anderson Knits and Crochets Across the U.S.
Ellen Gormley - A 2009 Kind of Designer
Vickie Howell - Hooked for Life
Weaving a life’s tale to support, encourage and educate women about Heart Disease.
Currently, 41 million women are living with or are at risk for heart disease. Staggering numbers for a disease so often associated with men. Heart disease is an equal opportunity issue, knowing no boundaries of race, creed, sex or wealth. More women than men die from the disease each year, surpassing the number of women who die from all cancers.
 So what’s a woman to do? According to Marilyn Deak, why not knit, crochet or weave? Granted there are intrinsic values to crafting and your health, but Marilyn literally wants you to get crafty and make red scarves to support, encourage and care for a sisterhood of those living their lives with this silent killer.
“Women with heart disease share a sense of isolation and fear. The handmade red scarf is a tangible symbol of connectedness, expressing the care and support of others for all women experiencing the stresses of heart disease,” said Marilyn.
Living with heart disease herself, Marilyn is one of the founders of the national HeartScarves program of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. The program delivers handmade, red scarves to members of the WomenHeart Support Networks, and to women undergoing cardiac procedures. She also knits, crochets and weaves. Marilyn has found her journey with heart disease, much like her weaving, has given her determination to reach out to support and educate others through the love of a handmade gift.
“Weaving projects take a great deal of time, thought and work with the outcome always in doubt,” said Marilyn. “When I take a project off the loom and it has come out the way I wanted, it’s a great feeling. If the project is not what I envisioned and planned for, I know there is more to learn. It’s very similar to my experience with heart disease. When I’m functioning well, I’m really pleased. When I’m confronted with mounting health problems, it’s back to the doctors, and doing medical research on how to feel better.”
Marilyn’s journey as a survivor of heart disease and a champion of the HeartScarves program mirrors her love of fiber arts and weaving. She believes the key to a heart healthy life is education. Starting HeartScarves was similar to her creating her own fabric on the loom.
The HeartScarves goal was to give handmade red scarves to every woman with heart disease with whom they came into contact. Marilyn approached her weaving guild, Palomar Handweavers’ from Escondido, CA, to make red scarves. The guild got behind the program right away, connecting Marilyn to women who donated scarves and who supported the project. Things were going well and there was much excitement.
It became clear, early on, the project was taking on a life of its own and its underlying mission fit well with the WomenHeart organization. With the support of her guild, other WomenHeart friends and a belief that the sky is the limit, Marilyn and company petitioned the WomenHeart organization to take this message of heart education, hope and encouragement nationally. 
“At the time the project was starting, my grandkids loved the movie Toy Story and the character who says ‘To infinity and beyond,’” said Marilyn. “The support of the handweavers and those whose lives we had already touched allowed us to believe this little saying and propel us into the stratosphere without any limits. The HeartScarves message proved so important to so many women.”
Much like her work on the loom, there are always lessons for women about heart disease, whether it is an awareness of the symptoms of heart disease, how to live a healthier lifestyle and/or even how to continue living once diagnosed, education is the key.
“Each scarf represents a hug to a woman with heart disease, as well as giving us the opportunity to provide information to others who may be able to prevent illness through our efforts,” said Marilyn.
Central to the effort is the word handmade; giving each scarf a ‘heart’ or that personal touch which says to its recipient someone took time to create this especially for you. The message of warmth and hope sustains Marilyn who credits the HeartScarves program for giving her more then she can define.
According to Marilyn, there are unexpected gifts from all aspects of life, if you look for them. With weaving, there have been gifts like learning about the history of weaving that goes back to the beginning of human history, and how weaving can vary in different parts of the world.
“I’m not happy to have heart disease, but through my involvement with HeartScarves, and WomenHeart, I’ve met wonderful women across the country, I’ve been able to give comfort to women I otherwise would not have met and I get to see spectacular scarves and often can talk to the crafts person and find out how they made the scarf.”
Red Heart Yarns and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with heart disease have joined forces to create the HeartScarves Project Kit featuring everything you need to knit or crochet a red scarf. HeartScarves provides handmade red scarves to members of our WomenHeart Support Networks, and to women undergoing cardiac procedures. The red scarves offer comfort, support, and encouragement for a woman with heart disease and become a part of her healing journey.
October 30, 2009
Lisa Gentry is fast, very fast with needles, hooks and yarn.
 Lisa Gentry was always destined to be known for her quick work from the day she started knitting and crocheting. She learned her love of crochet in first grade and her love of knitting in third grade from the nuns at school in Germany. She was so fast the nuns accused her of staying up all night to crochet.
“I was crocheting a large floor pillow in the shape of a turtle and it was done too quickly,” Lisa recalls. “The nuns accused me of staying up all night to crochet. The turtle was my own design.”
One would say the rest is history. Her quickness opened many doors for her in the needle crafting world, including her status as a Guinness world record holder.
In 2005, Lisa earned the World Record as the Fastest Crocheter, stitching 5,113 stitches in 30 minutes during a Guinness sanctioned event held at Michaels Arts & Crafts store in Monroe, LA. This averaged out to almost 3 stitches per second and resulted in a lovely pink flower of chains and treble crochet stitches made from TLC® Essentials® yarn.
It was also the start of her relationship with Red Heart and Coats & Clark who provided Lisa with the yarn and hook for her record-setting event. After her momentous achievement, Lisa began designing. Her notoriety led to a crochet-off against a well-know designer at the Crochet Guild of America convention in 2005. Not one to be apprehensive, Lisa was triumphant once again and opportunities continued to come her way.
“My life is more interesting because of my knitting and crocheting. My husband and I have traveled to many great places, meeting incredible people who all share the joy of a yarn lifestyle,” says Lisa.
Lisa challenges herself and finds inspiration by taking basic shapes and sizes and making something unique and interesting to appeal to her fellow crochet and knit friends, even if it means inventing a new technique.
While traveling, Lisa did not have a crochet hook to edge a project she had completed. She had knitting needles though, and her resourcefulness took over. “I was so excited to figure out how to work chains with my knitting needles. Many knitters are glad, because they don’t crochet, but they still want the chain look on the edging,” says Lisa.
Chain knitting was born and from that a book entitled I Can’t Believe I’m Chain Knitting. Lisa has three other books to her name, including her newest is titled The Crochet Closet. A fourth book is presently in the works.
 Lisa is currently working on a stylish vest (shown above) using Red Heart® Pomp-a-Doodle™ yarn, fun and unique yarn featuring fluffy pom-poms strung together by twisted yarn cording. You can find Lisa’s designs, books and more on her website www.hookandneedledesigns.com.
It is one of lives fortunate occurrences that allows someone to turn their hobby into a career. From this fortune comes the joy of sharing with others the sense of accomplishment and pride you feel from knitting and crocheting. Lisa spreads this wealth every chance she gets.
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