Teresa Wilson, owner and operator of Country Yarns for the last 15 years, holds one of many blankets made by volunteers. Blankets ready to be delivered to Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County are dropped off at Country Yarns and delivered by Hope or Wilson.
Jake Berg
SNOHOMISH — During the COVID-19 pandemic, Country Yarns on Glen Avenue has found a way to do its part and help the community. Country Yarns’ owner Teresa Wilson, along with her friend and customer Kathy Hope, decided to find where they could use their skills to do the most good.
They’ve been donating knit blankets to comfort domestic violence victims.
“I’ve always found when coming across a challenge the best thing to do is do something for someone else,” Wilson said. “When there’s a need, the knitting and crocheting community steps up.”
Hope said the need for masks was obvious but knitting and crocheting materials are not good for mask-making, so she researched further. Hope reached out to Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County on behalf of the shop to ask what kind of things they could do to help.
“They really didn’t know what to ask for, so I suggested lap blankets,” said Hope. “They said ‘oh, that would be wonderful because when they have people come to them, they need comfort, something you can just put around your shoulders or hold on to.’ ”
Once the decision landed on blankets, Hope spread the word about the project. With the help of multiple volunteers, Wilson and Hope managed to get 10 blankets made for the first round of donations.
“When I took them in, I said, ‘what do you see for the future needs?’ And they said baby blankets,” said Hope. “This kind of quarantine causes a lot of things to happen in homes. They expect a population explosion of little people that are in violent situations.”
Once again Country Yarns received more responses and more donations of blankets.
According to Wilson, Country Yarns has collected three dozen handmade blankets for the domestic violence agency.
This is not the first time Country Yarns has facilitated charity knitting. Wilson explained that in the past they have knitted little toys for the Police Department to comfort small children. As more people are allowed to gather again, Wilson plans to continue the charity knitting, providing a place for the knitting community to gather and use their talents to help others.
“I’m trying to bring people together,” said Wilson. “I want unity and harmony.”
Wilson explained that she isn’t sure what the future need will be yet, but is excited to have a community of knitters together again, “solving the world’s problems one stitch at a time.”
