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Knitters in Port Alberni make warm gesture for those in need

A thrift store find was transformed into blankets with help from Abbeyfield House resident
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Cathy Jensen, seated, from Abbeyfield House and Rosemarie Buchanan, a board member, donate handmade blankets to Capt. Michael Ramsay of the Salvation Army. The blankets will go to people who need to keep warm this winter. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

When Rosemarie Buchanan uncovered a large bag full of knitted squares she had purchased years previously from a thrift store, she knew just where to take it.

Buchanan is an experienced knitter, and often finds thrift store gems to add to her yarn stash. She was sitting on the national executive for Blankets for Canada when she rescued the bag of squares from a shop years ago. In the back of her mind she thought she might be able to sew the squares together to make blankets, but without a specific project in mind, set them aside and forgot about them until last March.

She washed and dried all the squares before contacting a manager at Abbeyfield House in Port Alberni, asking if any of the members wanted to volunteer to assemble the squares into lap robes or full blankets. Abbeyfield resident Cathy Jensen jumped at the chance.

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“Cathy did the bulk of the work, sewing squares together to make the blankets and lap robes,” said Buchanan. “When you’re sewing those squares together you have to make sure that the blankets that you make are big enough for a tall person or a large person, because you don’t want them to be only partially covered,” she added.

Jensen finished her part of the project in the middle of summer, and it was Buchanan who finished the edgings on each blanket before they were ready for donation. They ended up with six or eight full-sized blankets and a number of lap blankets.

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Jensen and Buchanan have donated the finished blankets to Capt. Michael Ramsay of the Salvation Army in Port Alberni, and they will be used to keep people warm this winter.



susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com

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Susie Quinn

About the Author: Susie Quinn

A journalist since 1987, I proudly serve as the Alberni Valley News editor.
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