Southlake woman starts club for kids to make blankets for homeless

Southlake: Woman starts knitting club for kids to help grant Phillip's Wish

12:00 AM CST on Thursday, December 13, 2007

By VERONICA VILLEGAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Photos by RICKY MOON/Spec

Donating a warm winter blanket she had knitted herself was just one of the many errands Nicole Allen had on her Christmas list of things to do.

Once they get the hang of it, the Knitterbugs put their needles to good use in making squares for blankets to donate to the homeless. They meet at the home of Nicole Allen (third from left), who started the club. Left: Sydney Rowan, 8, enjoys a bit of good-natured teasing about being a knot monster.

All that changed, though, when she arrived at the Phillip's Wish donation box in Southlake Town Square and happened to meet Phillip's mom, Cyndi Bunch.

"Her story just really touched my heart," recalled Mrs. Allen, a Southlake mother of nine. "There was an instant connection between us, and I thought, 'If she can do all this, then certainly I can do something more.' "

The story of Phillip's Wish began four years ago when Ms. Bunch's son, who was 6 years old, started asking questions about his father, who suffers from schizophrenia and had left home for a life on t! he stree ts. Phillip, who often would accompany his mother to look for his father on cold winter nights, began to wonder whether his father was warm enough.

That concern led the mother and son to begin collecting blankets -- 200 their first year -- to distribute to the homeless. Last year, with the help of dozens of volunteers, they collected more than 16,000 blankets, as well as coats, hats and other cold-weather necessities for distribution.

After her chance meeting with Ms. Bunch, Mrs. Allen said, she left determined to take action. By the end of the week, she started a children's knitting club that meets on Saturdays to knit more blankets for Phillip's Wish.

"I always wanted to do something connected to knitting that would be helpful to someone else," said Mrs. Allen, who learned to knit as a child. "This just fit."

The intent, Mrs. Allen said, was to offer a series of four knitting lessons to area schoolchildren. The children would learn how to knit 7-by-9-inch squares that would then be pieced together to create a large blanket. She said it only takes about 30 minutes to learn a basic knitting stitch and another 30 minutes to knit one of the squares.

Judy Kinnamore and her two daughters, ages 9 and 11, saw a notice about the knitting club in a school newsletter and decided to get involved.

"My girls are self-taught knitters, and this was a great way to make use of their newfound skill," Mrs. Kinnamore said. "And the idea that it's going to help the homeless makes it even more worthwhile."

Since the knitting club started in October, it has doubled to about 20 participants. Because of the interest, Mrs. Allen has decided to continue the weekly lessons until there are enough squares to make three blankets.

Sydney Rowan, one of the club's newest members, said she is hooked.

"I learned how to knit, and I met some new friends," said the 8-year-old third-grader at Durham Elementary who recently moved with her family to the area. "Plus, it makes me feel helpful. I've already knitted 12 squares."Member s of the Knitterbugs, the club's name, will present their handiwork to Ms. Bunch and her son this month.

Mrs. Allen said the Knitterbugs will keep meeting even after finishing the three blankets.

"We're just going to keep on knitting all year so that next winter, we'll have even more to give to Phillip's Wish," she said.

Veronica Villegas is a Fort Worth freelance writer.