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Before Leonard Foidart starts knitting, he lies face down on his custom-made cot, reaches down to adjust the light, grabs two knitting needles and selects the wool he feels will be just right.
Foidart, 84, loves to knit but is unable to sit for more than a few hours at a time. He lost his legs in the early 1990s due to complications from multiple sclerosis.
“The bones don’t like me sitting on them too much,” Foidart said from his home in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Man., about 110 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
He said he has knitted and donated more than 1,000 tuques to numerous charities in the last five years, including Winnipeg’s Siloam Mission and Central Plains Cancer Services in Portage la Prairie. Much of the wool is donated.
Foidart was diagnosed with bone and prostate cancer a few years ago. His wife, Tharsile, died last year after suffering a stroke.
“She taught me how to knit. So, every time I knit a tuque, she is right here beside me. In the 20 years, we never had a single argument. We had a good life,” he said as his voice broke with emotion.
That’s why, Foidart said, he refuses to give up knitting. After his cancer diagnosis, Foidart decided to build a cot. It sits on four wheels and has a comfortable body cushion, and a leather headband so he can rest his head.
Foidart shows off one of many baskets of donated wool. (Michele McDougall/CBC)
“I was a letter carrier for 19 years, and in my spare time I did carpentry work. And because I’ve been in this chair for 35 years, whenever a problem came along, this guy solved it,” Foidart said as he tapped the side of his head.
He keeps meticulous records of each donation, with photos of labelled bags showing the date and number of tuques.
“You’re here to help people, and that’s my goal, to do the best I can to help people wherever they are and whatever shape they can be in,” Foidart said.
His most recent donation of 200 tuques was to the Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation last week. The corporation supports and advocates for vulnerable people in the community.
Kimberly Sharp, left, and Tawnee Kowerchuk from the Portage la Prairie Community Revitalization Corporation hold some of the 200 tuques Foidart delivered last week. (Michele McDougall/CBC)
Co-ordinator Tawnee Kowerchuk said they got an email from Foidart’s niece preparing them for delivery but she was shocked when he delivered the tuques himself.
“It was really special. When he showed up and we saw exactly what we were dealing with and how many, we were totally beside ourselves. It was just amazing,” Kowerchuk said.
“And he was adamant they go to people who are in need. And they will.”
Foidart is already working on the next batch of tuques. He said he doesn’t set a goal of how many he wants to make in a month or a year but never strays from his schedule.
“I do the best that I can do today, and maybe tomorrow, even better. And mistakes now are very rare. After 1,200 tuques, they better be rare,” he said as he laughed.
Leonard Foidart, 84, of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Man., has numerous health challenges, including the loss of both legs, but loves to knit. He built a cot so he could create more than 1,000 tuques to donate.
