By Rusty Bradshaw
Twitter: @SunCitiesEditor

When a brightly colored knit cap is spotted in the Valley, it could very well have come from a Sun City resident’s home.

Leon Loupee keeps himself busy at home making the knit caps and donating them to various organizations in the Valley. The caps come in a multitude of colors and designs. Over the past 16 years he has produced and donated more than 12,000 caps.

“Not bad for an 80-year-old man,” he said.

Mr. Loupee admits knitting is an unusual hobby for a man. But he got into it on what he considered a dare.

“My wife and a friend were doing knitting and one day she said to me, ‘See, it’s so easy you could do it,’” Mr. Loupee said. “I took that as a challenge.”

He has been knitting since that day.

His creations are made on a loom, not the traditional knitting needles. His loom is set up in his home.

“It is in my living room and I sit there and make caps while watching TV,” he said.

Mr. Loupee was a member of one of the knitting clubs at Lakeview Center, 10626 W. Thunderbird Blvd., and did some of his work there. But he got tired of driving to the center and set up shop exclusively in his home.

The caps he makes have been donated to baby birthing centers, the homeless and the working poor. He turns out 2-3 caps per day.

“These days the major contributions go to Hospice and cancer care centers,” Mr. Loupee said. “These days a lot of my caps are pink.”

He used to make baby caps but stopped that when John C. Lincoln Hospital, 250 E. Dunlap Ave., Phoenix closed its birthing center.

Mr. Loupee is also a member of the Sun City PRIDES and is a deacon at his church. But that and making caps are enough to keep him busy and he is not involved in any other Sun City clubs or activities.