Seeing Red

February is American Heart Association Month, but I’ve been seeing red for the past two and a half months! Not the meaning that immediately comes to mind when someone says they see red, but skeins and skeins of red yarn. A couple of years ago, I knitted some scarves for American Heart Association’s “Heart Scarves” project that provides red scarves to women who are just coming out of heart surgery. 

I genuinely believe it’s a great project so around the middle of November, I decided I would participate again. In my search for information about this year’s WomenHeart HeartScarves project, I also found a project in Chicago called Little Hats, Big Hearts. This other project raises awareness of congenital heart defects, the most common type of birth defect in the US. A group of volunteers was asking people to knit red baby hats in “premie” and newborn sizes so they can give a red hat to every baby born in Chicago’s participating hospitals during February. 

I also loved the idea of this project, so I immediately went out and bought 4 skeins of red yarn, downloaded some patterns and started my first hat. I’d never knitted on circular needles before so this was my first attempt to understand how to connect the rows, and keep track of them. I’d also never knitted on tiny number 2 and 3 needles so this was another a new experience.

Some of the hat patterns were easier than others and by the time I was on my fourth skein, I had settled on two favorites and I was much faster than when I started. I ended up sending sixteen hats to the volunteer organizer the first of January so the hats could be washed, sterilized and distributed by the first of February.

With the baby hats finished, I started on scarves for the WomenHeart program. I now have two finished, and I’m working on my third. I wish I could say that since these are on much bigger needles, they go faster, but that isn’t the case. As the scarf reaches thirty inches, you realize you are a little less than half way, and you believe you’ll never finish. 

At least I don’t have a deadline for this project because, unfortunately, there are thousands of women who have heart surgery every day.

Here is where I get on my soapbox about awareness of heart disease in women. There are many more women than men who have died from heart disease and stroke since 1984. And an alarming fact is that fewer women than men survive their first heart attack. Around 55,000 more women than men have a stroke each year! Few women know the signs of a heart attack because the signs are different from those experienced by men.

Another alarming fact is that more women die each year from heart disease than from breast cancer. Yet, we never hear about these statistics and the American Heart Association gets almost no publicity. I’ve looked into how effectively donations are handled by different associations, and AHA has a very high percentage of donations going to the actual prevention of heart disease and stroke and very little going towards advertising. Maybe that’s why death in women has decreased by more than 30 percent in the past 10 years.

February is coming up in just a week, and it’s American Heart Month. On February 6th, it’s national Wear Red Day! This year will mark the twelfth annual recognized day and it’s gaining in popularity. I’d like to encourage you to participate.

February also marks one month since you made your new year’s resolutions. If resolving to break the barriers against heart disease and strokes in women wasn’t on your list, it’s not too late to make this a priority! At least become familiar with women’s signs of heart attack.