Mary Ann Stevenson and Barbara Edwards with photos of their group’s past projects.
“We’ve never even seen the woman who knitted these!” Barbara Edwards exclaimed, motioning to a table filled with a donation of bright red, white, and blue knitted squares. “But she makes more than anyone here. We’ve gotten at least 10 afghans from her. Maybe more!”
“Yes,” Mary Ann Stevenson nodded, “I’d double that number.”
The two women stood side by side in a large meeting room of the Coronado Senior Center. Behind them, several women busily arranged the huge donation of squares on the table, deciding who would take home the squares to sew them into a large blanket. Other women sorted and bagged donations of yarn and needles, tongues moving as fast as their hands as they caught up with each other and prepared materials for future projects.
Since 2006, this group of women has met from 10-11 AM every third Wednesday of the month at the Coronado Senior Center. Barbara and Mary Ann started the group because they had left-over yarn and wanted to put it to good use. Since then, the group has knit and crocheted hundreds of blankets, slippers, hats, and even baby outfits.
The group is part of Warm Up America, a national organization started by Evie Rosen in Wisconsin in 1991. She had the idea of neighbors and volunteers knitting small sections and others joining them together. “The beauty of so many different participants,” explains the Warm Up America (WUA) website, “is that a WUA! afghan resembles a patchwork quilt of many colors and textures, just as the participants and recipients represent the varied faces of America.”
When the women meet each month, they compile donations from knitters and crocheters inside and outside the group. “Everybody usually takes something home,” explained Barbara, such as a stack of squares to sew into a complete afghan.
As the women organized the squares and yarn, they mentioned how much they enjoyed these simple ways to keep their hands busy while they watched TV, rode the ferry, or relaxed in the evenings. The projects are only as complicated as the knitters want them to be.
These Coronado women make many blankets per year through the contribution of 7 x 9 inch squares. “We have 49 [squares] that we put together for a big afghan,” explained Barbara, “and 25 for a wheelchair afghan or baby blanket.” The women send most of their blankets to the local Salvation Army’s Transitional Living Center, which primarily assists homeless mothers and babies. A thank you note from the center said, “Recently, we offered a graduating resident one of your most recent works of art as a parting gift. It took nearly a half an hour for her to make her difficult decision, and I know she will treasure this gift alway
s.”
The Coronado group has sent additional blankets to the Chula Vista Veteran Home and Walter Reed via the Red Cross. They have also knit scarves and Christmas stockings for Rachel’s Women’s Center, preemie and chemo hats for Scripps Hospital, slippers for families in Dover waiting to welcome their fallen soldiers home, and little “bunny blanket buddies” for new mom’s baskets in hospitals.
One of their favorite projects, though, traveled around the world. “We heard that African babies were going home from the hospital in newspapers,” explained Barbara, “so we made dresses and matching hats.” Through the Women in Tourism International Alliance, the local WUA group was able to send several outfits to Kenya and Mozambique in 2009 before the project became a danger to continue due to conflicts in these countries.
They also recently knitted scarves and woolen warmers for Navy SEALs to wear under their helmets. “We as a group did lunch for the Navy SEALs at a member’s home and we presented them with the [head warmers] and scarves to take with them,” said Mary Ann. “They were the nicest guys!” The knitters gave the SEALs 11 scarves and six caps before the team left for the Middle East.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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