Psychology librarian Merrie Davidson is an avid knitter. She knits at the reference desk, on the bus, at home, while walking her dog, Audrey. Because she very generously gives away the items she creates, her coworkers, friends, and family all benefit from her hobby.

And so do complete strangers.  Ten fold.

Late one recent evening Merrie hung ten hand-knitted winter hats from a tree outside The Wedge Co-Op near her home in south Minneapolis. She figured that those needing hats would find them there, eventually.

The next morning she visited the tree and found every hat gone. She was astonished. Being most recently from Florida, Merrie may not have realized just how valuable a warm hat can be in Minnesota. “I thought maybe one would be gone the next morning,” she said. 

The new owners of these hats, as it turns out, are as thankful for Merrie’s hats as she is happy to give them away.  The very next morning, Merrie found an impressively colored hand-made sign hanging from the tree, reading  “Thank U Hat Tree.”  Which makes Merrie very happy.

Merrie does not usually knit ten hats in a row.  She was participating in The Knitting Olympics, an event that coincides with the Olympics, during which knitters declare their projects and work to finish them between the opening and closing ceremonies.  She and fellow knitters have been tracking each other on the über-social-networking-for-knitters-site Ravelry.com.

Visit Merrie in the Keffer Library on the Minneapolis campus anytime to talk psychology, education, ASL (she worked as an interpreter before becoming a librarian), dogs, books, and, of course, knitting.