BOTHELL — On a drizzly Monday afternoon, Kimberly Hanke sat surrounded by family photographs in her bright living room and crocheted a 30-by-40-inch yellow blanket.
She’s been working on lap blankets and shawls nearly every day since mid-November. The yellow blanket was item number 94.
Hanke, 58, had enough yarn in her basket to get her through her 100th project.
All of the blankets and shawls are destined for nursing homes, gifts to people who struggle to stay warm and can’t find a blanket that doesn’t tangle in their wheelchairs. Hanke’s lap blankets are custom-crocheted to be long enough to drape from torso to feet while sitting, but narrow enough not to spill out of the seat and into the wheels.
The shawls are the same width but double the length of the lap blankets so they can be wrapped snugly around shoulders. Hanke makes matching sets of shawls and blankets.
She delivers the sets every two weeks to nursing homes in south Snohomish County. Two deliveries have gone to centers that specialize in Alzheimer’s care. She’s brought blankets and shawls to Brookdale Alderwood, Brookdale Lynnwood, Bothell Health Care and GenCare Lynnwood at Scriber Gardens.
“I leave my name and number with them,” Hanke said. “It says ‘Lap Blanket Lady.’?”
The best part of being the Lap Blanket Lady is talking with the people she gives them to, Hanke said.
“They like to talk,” she said. “I had one guy who was 93 and went through World War II, and he started singing me World War II songs.”
Hanke keeps track of her work in a chart with the names of the nursing homes and the colors of the items: light blue, frosty green, burgundy, raspberry, lemon. She doesn’t want to repeat the same colors too much. Part of the fun is letting each person pick their own set. Blue is the most popular color.
“It’s great. The residents were really excited,” said Heidi Flynn, business office manager at GenCare Lynnwood at Scriber Gardens. “They like to pick their own colors and they love to sit in their comfy chairs and watch TV.”
Some of them need a little extra warmth, and Flynn sees people around the center now with their blankets and shawls.
Two women told Hanke that they often wanted to come out of their rooms and watch television in the common area, but they got too cold to stay there for long. The blankets changed that.
For Alzheimer’s patients, the blankets are especially useful, said Gwen Daly, a life enrichment assistant at Brookdale Alderwood. Their temperatures fluctuate and they often get cold, even in warm rooms.
“We definitely use the blankets for our residents,” Daly said. “We put them on their laps in the morning when it’s cold and wrap the shawls around their shoulders.”
Hanke was inspired to start her volunteer work after reading a book by Debbie Macomber, a popular author who lives in Port Orchard. Macomber’s “Cedar Cove” series features a character who knits and donates blankets.
Hanke thought, “That’s cool, I could do that.”
She doesn’t knit, but she learned to crochet as a teenager. She picked up her crocheting hook and refreshed her skills. Since November, she’s shaved her average time for one blanket from 10 hours to eight.
So far, Hanke’s purchased yarn with her own money or with donations from friends and family. However, the former accountant is on a fixed income and can’t afford to keep buying with the amount of yarn she goes through each week, she said.
It takes two seven-ounce skeins of yarn for a blanket and three for a shawl. She makes about five blankets or shawls each week, which requires at least 10 skeins. She uses coupons to stretch her budget but still has a hefty yarn bill.
Hanke created a GoFundMe account online to raise money. Her goal is $2,300, which she estimates would pay for a full year’s supply of yarn. People can donate at www.gofundme.com/n8fvp8.
Though charging for the blankets and shawls could cover Hanke’s costs, it would defeat the purpose of her service. Plus, people are surprised and touched to learn that the blankets are gifts, Flynn said.
“I want to keep it free because a lot of times people in nursing homes can’t afford the blankets,” Hanke said. “This is mainly for people who don’t have friends or family providing for them.”
She’s picking her next destination based on a request from her cousin, who paid for yarn specifically for a center she visited as a child. Other than that, Hanke has been relying on Internet search engines and suggestions from nursing home staff to select her donation sites. Her list of possibilities includes more than a dozen near her home. There are hundreds more within driving distance, she said.
“I just want to keep doing this until I run out of nursing homes,” Hanke said. “And I know I won’t run out.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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