4,400 caps knitted for newborns in Guatemala

BERN, Switzerland — More than 4,400 wool baby caps were knitted by Relief Society members in German-speaking Switzerland and neighboring Germany and Austria and then donated Jan. 9 to the "Save the Children" organization in Bern, Switzerland.

__IMAGE1__"Save the Children" officials had requested the caps to keep heads warm, as the body temperature of a newborn can decrease a few degrees in a few minutes and the majority of that heat is lost through the head. If the body temperature gets too low, the baby can be susceptible to life-threatening infections.

The baby caps, which represent more than 14,000 hours of service, will be sent to Guatemala.

"I was able to let my imagination run free with different colors and patterns," said Liliane Schmid of Chur, Switzerland.

Tanja Jager of Biel was skeptical at first, "But when it was brought to my attention who these baby caps were for, I caught the knitting fever and the work progressed quickly."

Also, women who hadn't knitted in years joined the cause.

"For the first time in more than 20 years I picked up a pair of knitting needles. The knowledge of how to knit returned to me as I performed the work," said Beatrice Kopp of Pratteln.