The annual Warmth in Winter crochet-a-thon at the Winkler Centennial Library last week resulted in a mountain of afghan squares and completed blankets.
Above: Some of the granny squares last week’s crochet-a-thon generated for the Afghans for Eden program at the Winkler library. Left: They have take-home kits available for anyone wanting to get involved with this project, which runs year-round
Numerous people stopped by throughout the day to curl up on the library’s comfy couches and knit for awhile in support of patients at the Eden Health Care Services psychiatric hospital in Winkler.
“We had seven or eight people actively crocheting, and several more pick up the afghan-at-home kits,” shared organizer and library clerk Linda Funk. “And we had another three people bringing in finished afghan donations.”
The library accepts donations of yarn, 4×4 granny squares, and completed blankets year-round. They also have a basket of yarn set up for people to stop in and do a few stitches whenever they like.
The completed blankets are dropped off at Eden regularly, giving the patients there a taste of home while they heal.
They’ve been running this program for several years now, sending a dozen or so blankets to Eden annually.
“When we first started looking at doing a community quilt project like this, Eden was one of the first places that came to mind,” Funk shared. “It’s a really valuable resource for the community, and people come from a long way away to get that kind of support.”
Recovering from a mental health challenge is a draining experience, Funk reflected, and a gift of a soft, warm, colourful blanket can go a long way indeed toward lifting a person’s spirits.
“Somebody trusting their handiwork to you, it is a little bit of a lift,” she said. “And, in the most practical sense, if I’m already depressed and I’m cold on top of that, everything looks worse. Warm me up and then my outlook on life maybe improves just a little bit.
“Yarn is no replacement for antidepressants, it never will be, but every little bit helps,” Funk added. “And afghans, especially crocheted afghans, have this sort of grandma feel to them. It reminds people of that older relative who loved them and saw something in them and gave them a safe place.”
Funk notes they’re always looking for people to get involved with this program, be it by donating materials or volunteering their time to crochet.
The new take-home kits makes it even easier to participate—they come with instructions, a pattern for a basic square, a crochet hook, and yarn in various colours. They can be borrowed from the library for however long it takes you to complete a few squares or even an entire blanket.
“Somewhere along the way we realized that most of the Afghans for Eden work was happening at home, so it made sense to put the yarn where it’s going to be used,” Funk said, noting the kits have proven to be quite popular as grab-and-go projects. “People like having something to do with their hands while they’re watching TV or chatting with someone.”
If you’d like to lend the Afghans for Eden program a hand, stop by the library anytime.
