OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Knitting wasn't always a hobby or a "passion," as she describes it, but it was part of her family's survival in Bavaria in southeast Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Emmy Christiansen's mother taught her to knit when she was young. "We had to make socks a lot," she recalls.
- In time, Emmy met her husband, Edgar, an American deployed to Germany. After he passed away, she returned to knitting as a way to heal from the loss.
- Emmy knits every day now, and will make hundreds of hats this year. She donates them at Christmastime to shelters, hospitals and the Salvation Army.
Continue reading for the transcript of the on-air story.
"It's probably about 20 years old and it still carries me," Emmy Christiansen said as she fell into her favorite recliner.
She reached for a set of knitting needles which she's owned for twice as long.
"I have round needles, but I like the sound of it," she remarked as the metal needles met one another.
Christiansen learned to knit from her mom when she was very young.
"And it was necessary because it was during the war. We had to make socks a lot," she explained.
Back then, Christiansen's father, a German soldier, was a prisoner of war. She eventually married an American soldier named Edgar.
"What did you love about him?," 3 News Now's Mary Nelson inquired.
"Sometimes, I didn't love him. He pissed me off. I shouldn't have said that! I'm sorry!," Christiansen said laughing.
The truth is, in losing her husband 25 years ago, she was heartsick.
"But then all of a sudden, there was that little voice said, 'Why don't you pick up your knitting?'," she shared.
And so, she did. Not just here and there, according to her neighbor Nancy Moss.
"I didn't realize - I knew she knitted, but I didn't realize know to the magnitude of what she was doing."
Over coffee one day, Moss found out.
"We counted them, I took pictures of them and counted them. There was over 550 caps."
Christiansen knits every day. She donates the hats to hospitals, shelters and the Salvation Army for its Winter Night Watch.
"That warmth doesn't just come from the yarn that composes of the hat, but it comes from the efforts, it comes from the care, it comes from what she embeds into the hat itself," Major Dan Sawka explained of Christiansen's creations.
Boxes and bags of hats she's made since Christmas sit in a spare bedroom - in a range of sizes to fit premies to adults.
"We don't hear enough good things that people are doing for other people that they don't even know," Moss commented.
And that's part of why we're sharing her story.
Because, we first met Christiansen in 2013 and again in 2017.
KMTV viewers donated enough yarn to fill an SUV. Christiansen's home was overflowing - compared to now. She has just seven skeins left.
Knitting is her passion - her salvation. Christiansen says it's the thing which gave her peace after her husband passed.
"I'm always truly just paying back," she said.
For a life with no shortage of loss, her perspective now is, there is nothing more important than taking care of each other.
Through May 16, 2025, KMTV will serve as a drop-off spot for Yarn for Emmy. A blue barrel is situated in the station's front vestibule at 10714 Mockingbird Drive, and accessible during business hours. The yarn will be delivered to Christiansen's home to help replenish her supply.