By Kelly A. Shue
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Utilizing a generous anonymous gift of 100% wool yarn, talented members of Greenspring’s Knit, Crochet, and Chat club recently knitted 27 helmet liners for soldiers stationed in Iraq.

“One of our members has a friend who was making the helmet liners in Atlanta,” says Cora Crouthamel, one of the group’s members and coleaders.

International network of volunteers
“A search on the Internet came up with directions, so we decided that was the best use of our talents and the wool,” Crouthamel says. The Greenspring donation is part of a larger international effort known as Operation Helmetliner.

Linda Swinford of Auburn, Ill. began the effort more than two years ago. While knitting a helmet liner for one of her daughter’s former classmates stationed in Iraq, Linda learned that during the frigid desert winters typical in both Iraq and Afghanistan, helmet liners provide a soldier with needed warmth without restricting vision.

Conversely, the liners also help cool a soldier’s head when fighting in the summer heat.

To date, the organization has shipped more than 25,000 pieces to deployed soldiers, many of which are knitted or sewn by hundreds of volunteers across North America.

“The pattern for the helmet liner is rather difficult,” says Crouthamel. “It took four or five of us more than a month to complete 27, using up all the wool we had that was the proper color. However, as a group, we really felt that we were doing something meaningful.”

A history of generosity
Over the years, the Knit, Crochet, and Chat club has undertaken a wide variety of generous projects. Throughout the year,  members knit infant caps and blankets for newborns at local hospitals and caps for children on the oncology floor at Inova Fairfax Hospital. For those close to home, the group makes lap robes and shawls for people at Renaissance Gardens, Greenspring’s on-site assisted living facility.