Several Nazareth Sisters are taking time to craft warm winter items, knitting and crocheting hats, mittens, lap blankets, and sweaters for people in need, young and old.
Sisters Place Board Member and volunteer Brenda Gonzales, SCN, can count on the Sisters to make really anything she requests. Warm lap blankets are common for senior clients, many who mostly stay in their homes and aren’t able to get out. Rosemarie Kirwan, SCN, makes sweaters for Sister Place clients of all ages.
When Barbara Joseph Lammers, SCN, heard from a local pediatrician about a need for baby hats, including tiny preemie hats she got some pastel-colored yarn and got to work. Along with Rosemarie Kirwan, SCN, together they sent stacks of hats to the babies at Flaget Hospital in Bardstown. (Once Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital’s maternity ward opens they plan to send hats there, too. Sister Jackie Aceto is in ministry there and will assist.)
Joan Robishaw, SCN, makes mittens and hats. She has a friend in Massachusetts who works with the unsheltered and was looking for volunteers to make mittens for the children at Christmastime. Sister Joan sends her hand-made winter gear up north as she completes them. It takes her about a week to make a pair of mittens. Sister Barbara Joseph has helped, too, knitting mittens in bright colors and all sizes for the cold northern weather.
Sister Joan said she sometimes knits during certain television shows but not always an organized time. In 4 days, she can complete a child-size winter hat.
The Nazareth knitters are also involved with Bethany Spring, a local housing ministry in Nelson County. Warm winter items, knitted and crocheted, help others to know they are loved. Especially during a time of struggle.
Sister Brenda said every stitch is a prayer. While knitting they pray for those who will receive it
“Sometimes I fuss,” Sister Barbara Joseph joked.
Sister Rosemarie first learned to sew by teaching herself. When she was in seventh grade, she wanted to have one of the enormous purses that were so beautiful and the style of the time. She couldn’t afford one, so she started knitting using an instruction book from a neighbor. She said she started knitting but got tired less than halfway through.
For Sister Joan, it was her grandmother who taught her how to sew in the third grade, and how to make a scarf. As a teenager, she had an instructional book. She learned how to make the big, long-sleeveless sweaters.
Sister Paschal says she was taught how to crochet to get out from under her mother’s feet, “I loved to watch what she was doing and wanted to imitate her. She used to knit socks for us during the depression, she made her own knitting needles.”
Sister Paschal said she finds it very relaxing to create and knit things.
Both of Sister Brenda’s grandmothers would crochet and embroider gifts as well. She learned from them both. She said, her grandmother was slow to finish her sewing projects, she would rarely complete a gift in time, and would often have to wrap it up half-finished and then have to ask for it back!
Today, she said a perfect time to crochet would be when it’s cold outside as the snow comes down.
Sister Brenda said she’s never learned to read a pattern. Her one experience with a pattern was in Belize at Christmas time. She wanted to make crochet angels in white for the tree but somehow ended up making a tree topper and it has traveled with her everywhere since.
Sister Barbara Joseph said, “I remember I was 5,6,7 years old, my mother knitting argyle socks for my father, I asked her how to knit and she did teach me; I was taught the European way to knit, the way I hold my needles and thread is different than others. As a young Sister, I made a lap robe for my mom.”
The supplies that the group uses are mostly donated by family and friends. Lots of people donate yarn, and funds for yarn, too.
When Sister Evelyn Hurley passed away, they incorporated her yarn into their creations.
They also share supplies among the group. Sister Rosemarie says she has enough skeins of yard, she may have to live to be 109 to get to it all. “She’s very kind to share with me,” Sister Paschal added.
All threads are turned into something.
The Sisters crochet socks for water filters for Water By Women (formerly Water with Blessings). The organization provides filters that allow everyone, all over the world, access to clean water. But the filters are breakable. The crochet socks made by the Sisters protect the filters from damage. Creating these life-extending protective socks has become a habit for Paschal Fernicola, SCN.
Sister Rosemarie can quickly make the socks. In about 45 minutes she can complete one from start to finish. Anne Magruder, SCN, makes her goal a filter per day.
Sister Barbara Joseph likes to knit while watching television however if she’s reading a good book, it can cause some delays.
Through trial and error, they have found Walmart has the thickest yarn which is best for the filter socks.
They also learned to leave off the pom-pom from the winter hat, according to Sister Joan, the kids pull them off.
Sister Brenda said she thinks as religious communities get smaller. “it’s great to see how we can all work together.”
Filter socks are provided to Water by Women.
From left: Sister Paschal, Sister Joan and Sister Brenda check out a black, white and red scarf. They agree that patterned scarves usually take longer and can be difficult to make.
Sister Rosemarie made these beautiful sweaters.