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Knitting marathon at Library yields hundreds of items for charity

Grissom Library hosted 11-hour marathon on Nov. 5

From morning to evening, their fingers never stopped working to help others. Knitters and crocheters of the Loosely Knit Group gathered all day on Nov. 5 at Grissom Library to culminate a year’s worth of work creating items for donation to charity groups.

From left, Helene Flick, Ann-Marie Comer and Peggy Camp create items for charity during the Knit-In and Crochet on Nov. 5 at Grissom Library.

From morning to evening, their fingers never stopped working to help others. Knitters and crocheters of the Loosely Knit Group gathered all day on Nov. 5 at Grissom Library to culminate a year’s worth of work creating items for donation to charity groups.

“It all comes from their heart,” said Cindi Schmitt, Grissom Library Information Services Specialist, who helped organize the group and the day’s events. About 25 ladies of the group spent the day crafting, socializing and sharing a potluck lunch in the Library’s meeting room and seating areas. The group meets regularly each Thursday morning at Grissom Library.

The 11-hour marathon Knit-In and Crochet on Nov. 5 was the culmination of a year’s worth of work the group put in creating more than 117 lap robes,  84 hats, 24 scarves and 10 blankets, all from their own yarn and their own work, Schmitt explained.

“They purchase and find yarn on their own,” Schmitt said. “We don’t provide any materials.”

The lap robes will be donated to the Elks Lodge #315 in Newport News, who will give them to bedridden and wheelchair-bound veterans at the Hampton VA Medical Center, as well as to homeless veterans, said Ann-Marie Comer, a member of the Loosely Knit Group who suggested the project.

“I was expecting maybe 10 to 15 robes,” Comer said. “But I never, in my wildest dreams, expected to get over 100. These ladies are very generous.”

The hats, scarves and blankets will be donated to LINK of Newport News, which will provide them to the homeless staying at area churches over the winter.

With many of the robes, hats and scarves on display, Grissom Library received offers from patrons who wanted to purchase the items, Schmitt said. But the Loosely Knit group members only want to give away their handiworks.

“They’ve really put their personalities into them,” Comer said. “Those who receive them are really getting a personalized gift.”  

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