Costco Connection - December 2009

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YOU MIGHT BE sporting one of Karen Williams’ beanie hats because you are an old friend of hers. Or you might be a relative of whom she is fond. You might be the especially nice barista at Star-bucks who gave her a big smile along with her coffee. Maybe you are the little boy with the sad face she met at a party.

Williams, a Denver-based German-English technical translator, has been knitting since her childhood. She was inspired by a Denver Public Library “Knitting for the Troops” marathon and decided to create her own marathon of knitting 50 hats by the end of 2009. A close friend suggested the moniker Random Hats of Kindness, and the hats, originally intended as holiday gifts for friends and family, have now become, at times, gifts to total strangers. Williams’ only condition is that the

recipients allow themselves to be photographed for her collection of faces beaming with gratitude and pleasure. She’s already topped her goal of 50 hats, with, she says, “no end in sight.”

“Sometimes I take one with me somewhere to see if a recipient presents themselves,” she says. Her own face shines with joy as she talks about the hats, neatly folded in their usual spot on her living room ottoman, waiting for future owners.

PHOTO COURTESY KAREN WILLIAMS

The hats are in a rainbow of colors, in variegated patterns, made with soft, lightweight cotton, wool or natural blends. She spends about five hours knitting each one. Williams has no interest in selling them. The value is in the act of giving. “And when I do give one to you,” she says, “we are both giving and getting much more than a hat.”

—Irene Middleman Thomas

Know when to fold ‘em

IN THIS ECONOMY, instead of throwing in the towel, John Pullum is using it to increase business.

His DVD, Folding Magic

( www.foldingmagic.com), shows him putting together 14 “towel origami” creations, including 11 animals, without glue, pins or Velcro. Each takes from 90 seconds to about ;ve minutes. The DVD has sold more than 2,000 copies since 2007.

Fans include hotel and bed-and-breakfast owners and cruise-ship managers. “It’s an added creative way of showing guests you care,” says the longtime Livonia, Michigan, Costco member, who tests designs on his three kids.

In addition to being a towel folder, Pullum, 39, is a corporate speaker and has appeared on and hosted more than two dozen specials for the Discovery Channel, including the series More Than Human.

—Shana McNally

appearances on Ed Sullivan’s I gravitated toward perfor- Mr. Weeds goes to Costco a c m the deep value and wide variety of Jack Stehlin

PHOTOS BY ENCI

John Houseman, comes from a long line of performers. His great-uncle Con Colleano, the wirewalker on Circus Theatricals’ logo, is in the International Circus Hall of Fame for being the ;rst person in recorded history to do a toe-to-toe forward somersault on a wire. Stehlin’s mother and her siblings were The Juggling Colleanos, made famous by TV appearances on Ed Sullivan’s and Sid Caesar’s shows. “It was probably only natural that I gravitated toward performance,” he says.

WHILE THE PERFORMERS (above) at Los Angeles’ nonpro;t theater company Circus Theatricals

( www.circustheatricals.com) aren’t
starving artists, they do appreciate
the deep value and wide variety of

Costco’s products, according to artistic director Jack Stehlin, better known as

At Costco, he is regularly approached by customers who refer to him as Detective Till. “It’s always a very pleasant conversation,” he says. “I’d like to think people love Detective Till as much as I do.”