Zita King thought her knitting skills had been forgotten before she discovered Wrap with Love eight years ago.
The 70-year-old heard about the charity, who deliver hand-made blankets and rugs to homeless people and women’s refuges around the world, through her parish of St Bernadette’s Clemton Park.
A group of roughly 20 women between Zita’s parish and Our Lady of Lourdes Earlwood have put their knitting and crocheting skills to charitable use for over 20 years.
“I find it relaxing and it’s just nice to know that somebody’s getting benefit from it as well,” she told The Catholic Weekly.
The parishes recently delivered their yearly haul of 152 wraps to the charity warehouse in Rosebery after a weekend exhibition at the parish.
Before drop-off the colourful creations are spread on the altar for Sunday Mass, which parish priest Fr Roberto Castillo blesses before their journey across Australia and to Romania.
Zita’s mother, an Italian immigrant and a skilled knitter, crocheter and cross-stitcher, insisted her daughter also learn the same skills as a child.
“The only one I actually liked was knitting, so I used to knit more when woollen jumpers were a thing, but once I started work and got married I just didn’t have the time,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure if I remembered how to all these years later, but I did and have just kept going.
“There’s a limit to what you can knit for yourself. Now I’m actually doing something that’s a little bit creative that’s hopefully keeping someone else happy and warm.”
The charity was founded by the late Sonia Gidley-King OAM, a Catholic, over 30 years ago. While watching a news program on the civil war in Mozambique, the then-recent retiree sought to use her newfound free time to help relieve the trauma of war victims.
Since 1992 the charity has delivered over 600,000 rugs and blankets in Australia and around the world, including those from St Bernadette’s and Lourdes.
“We’re just one little cog in the wheel,” said Josephine Quinn, coordinator of the project at the parishes.
“When you actually arrive with a delivery the love that you’re received with is immense and the ladies are so excited by the quantity and the quality of what we’re delivering. That’s such a beautiful experience.”
One lady, Sonia de Maria, makes anywhere from 20-25 wraps a year herself.
“I made a pledge with myself over 20 years ago, and from there I’ve just kept going,” she said.
“I make them while watching the news or rugby league and my hands just go with the wool and needles.”
Sonia said the group has allowed her talents to impact more people in need than she ever believed was possible.
“My hands are working by themselves, its second nature. But for another, that time can mean so much more than I realise.”