I will admit it, the focus on knitting helmet liners for soldiers came from guilt on my part, due to a promise broken.
Last fall i was contacted by my home church and asked that Cottage Knits “adopt” a soldier and his family. Chris Allen had just recently been deployed to Afghanistan. Chris left his family and home to serve his country and protect this nation. I readily agreed, with visions of all sorts of comforts we might knit for not only Chris, but also his wife and children.
Not long after that commitment we learned that one of our own, Barb Lee had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and had only a couple of months to live. My best friend Teresa was the niece of “Aunt Jo” and our concern was for Teresa as well.
We had adopted Aunt Jo as our own. Cottage Knitters fell into action doing what we do…attempting to comfort her, Teresa and ourselves by knitting up prayer shawls and blankets, fixing meals, sending cards and flowers and anything else we could think to do to make her final days the best they might be.
Meanwhile Chris was doing his duty by serving his country. His family continued to keep on keeping on… My promise to care for this family went unfulfilled. Actually, i realized that i needed to contact the church and explain the situation at hand and then something would happen, and my attention would be elsewhere.
The days and weeks passed by, Aunt Jo lived for six more short months. In the meantime Cottage Knits lost another “lady of the knit” unexpectedly. We were barely able to take it all in and then i remembered the promise once again. By then i was past the point of embarrassment and resolved to contact the church and retrieve the contact information. I planned on calling Chris’s wife and explain to her what had happened.
And just when i thought i had it all figured out i heard that Chris was home. That was wonderful news for sure. I made a vow that somehow i would attempt to find a way to honor him.
Knitted helmet liners seemed to be the answer. My goal is to gather 100 which are to be taken to Camp Atterbury during Labor Day weekend. I posted the free pattern on the Cottage Knits website during the month of July and have hosted knit-ins each week.
Every afternoon during July and August a roomful of women have gathered at the yarn shop to knit together and watch “war movies” such as Kelly’s Heroes, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, eat popcorn and knit these gifts for our soldiers. They have been faithful and the stack of liners continues to grow.
By chance i have come to meet a Floyd Crouse, a veteran whose sister has knitted, upon his request, dozens of helmet liners as well. I have been inspired by his commitment to see these liners made and then delivered for use. He is determined to see that as many soldiers as possible receive a hand knitted liner. You could say we have united forces to see this through.
Another group of volunteers have come together to tag each liner with a “stay warm” tag. You see, it’s really not about me…or any one of us…it’s a community of people who care, a vow to honor, in some way, those who serve our country…. and a way for me to say “Chris, thanks for a job well done.”
