EVERETT — The soldier carried a sand-colored knit square in his pocket around Iraq.
His kids in Everett carried ones of their own. They were small and tan, like Dad’s.
“If they needed to feel Dad, they reach in their pocket and touch the shawl. No one had to know,” said Marie Bond, a knitter who makes prayer shawls.
She is one of about 20 knitters in Trinity Episcopal Church’s prayer shawl ministry.
Since the ministry began in 2004, it has gifted 6,000 shawls to newlywed couples, expecting mothers, those who are sick, soldiers and others.
“We’re knitting demons here,” knitter Sandee Wheeler said.
A priest blesses the shawls every Sunday. The prayers, good thoughts and warmth are meant to offer comfort.
One of the knitters has a family member in Oregon who is living with dementia.
She was afraid to leave her home.
It became a challenge to get her to the doctor. She would abruptly stop in the doorway.
Bond sent her a shawl and said as long as she wore it, she would be safe.
Since then, the woman has had no trouble leaving the house. On sunny days, she’ll sit outside in the back yard.
“It just floors me. It makes such a big difference in their lives,” Wheeler said.
Each shawl comes with a card from the knitter who made it.
“This is your prayer shawl — your wings to take you above your troubles,” it reads.
Some shawls take eight balls of yarn to knit. Others are only three inches in length.
So far this year, the ministry has given 239 shawls to family and friends.
There have been times when the knitters couldn’t wait until Sunday to have the shawls blessed. Someone may be going in for surgery the next day.
Luckily, Bond’s husband is a retired priest. Members swing by their home for “drive-by blessings.”
Once the shawl is blessed, the knitter delivers it.
Another 135 shawls were given to people in hospice at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
President Barack Obama recognized the ministry with a President’s Award in 2013 for its hospice work.
Wheeler has been struggling with arthritis, which makes knitting difficult. She was about to leave the ministry until she met a young woman in hospice.
She had ovarian cancer, and no family to be with her.
Wheeler knitted a shawl the young woman could wear in the hospital.
She didn’t let go of it until she passed away.
Wheeler now knits two shawls a week. The braces on her fingers don’t slow her down.
“You want people’s last moments to be warm and peaceful,” Wheeler said.
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.
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