MUSKEGON, Michigan — Some find comfort in the finished product.
Haileigh Hall, crocheting on the couch of her Muskegon home, finds it in the process.
“I started yesterday, and I'm almost done with it," she said, gesturing to the tiny baby blanket she weaves in her lap. “I do need to keep myself busy, so I just pick it up and go to town. It helps. It's helped a lot.”
Some hobbies are found in moments of joy. Haileigh's was found when there was none.
“This is about the size that we got for our son," she said, looking at the blanket.
Haileigh and her fiancé were sure they’d never get pregnant. She was diagnosed with PCOS, which makes conception nearly impossible.
"In 2019 I had a miscarriage,” she said. “I was told when I had that miscarriage that I would not be able to have a child and go full term."
“But..." Haileigh smiled. “I missed my period.”
Then, along came Asher. Haileigh was pregnant with a baby boy.
“My pregnancy, it was full of jokes and laughter and fun," she said. “I took any stress that was in my life completely out because I did not want to cause myself a miscarriage."
But as the days grew shorter that November in 2021, their light too would soon fade.
“It's an emotional thing, and it's hard not to cry," she said through tears. "That's when we found out that he no longer had a heartbeat."
The loss of their son was devastating.
When the nurses brought him in, he was swaddled in a homemade blanket, hat and wearing angel wings someone had crocheted and donated to the hospital. Haileigh found a little comfort in his comfort.
“It's hard every day to not have him here, but it obviously happened for a reason," she said.
That reason is what helped pick Haileigh back up.
In the months following that November day, she picked up a yarn ball and crochet needle and started to learn. Three years later, she hasn't stopped.
“I want families to feel loved the way that I did by somebody that I didn't even know."
Now, she creates comfort for parents like her.
Haileigh crochets in every free moment she has, making blankets, hats and wings that she's going to donate to her nearby hospital for other babies born without a heartbeat.
“It helps me to know that I am making something for families that have gone through the same thing that I have," she said.
She calls the project, "Asher's Wings."
“Everything that I make from here till then, I will take on December 2 to the hospital to be donated for these babies," she said. “That is the day that he was born.”
Because even while her grief is still processing, Haleigh is finding Asher’s memory is never quite finished.
"There is a purpose for what I'm doing," she said softly, through tears. "I love my son so much. To do this for him, it makes my heart happy."
► Haileigh needs your help to make this project happen. She's asking for yarn donations or money to buy yarn so she can make as many blankets, hats and wings as possible before December 2 to honor Asher's birthday.
You can find donation information on her Instagram, Facebook or by sending her an email at CrochetWithHaze@Gmail.com.
