Before the first shovel of dirt was turned to build Oak Hammock more than 20 years ago, the Needle Arts Room was clearly located and named on the building plans. Needle Arts encompasses sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint and any other art that might involve creative use of textiles and needles. The room serves as a workspace where residents can socialize, teach and learn from each other.

The first group project for the Needlers was making “cancer caps” which are scarf-like head coverings for cancer patients who have lost their hair. Over the years, this group has created and donated the following: shawls for cancer patients, pillowcases for pediatric patients, quilts for pediatric patients, caps for preemie babies, layettes for preemie babies, lap robes for VA patients, neck warmers for VA patients and stuffed toys for ER patients.

Oak Hammock residents were gifted with hundreds of masks made by Needlers during the covid pandemic and the health pavilion regularly requests that we make clothing-cover bibs for residents. The longest ongoing project has been the lap quilts which are gifted to both residents and others admitted to Oak Hammock Skilled Nursing. To date over 2,000 lap quilts and crocheted lap robes have been donated. A couple of the Oak Hammock team members and a few resident family members also participated in this project.

Fabric, yarn and miscellaneous supplies are now regularly donated to the needlers and are available for our projects.

The Needle Arts Room is open to all Oak Hammock residents, and it is common to see someone searching the bookshelf for a pattern or looking for a matching button or color of thread. The Needlers try to gather on Thursday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. There are no formal officers or dues.