Jan Watson, Board Chair, Home Hospice North Lanark
Four years ago, during the pandemic, I had coffee one morning with Kathryn Stevens at the Equator Coffee Shop in Almonte and we got talking about whether there were any knitting groups in the area. Kathryn said she did not know of any groups in the area, but after chatting with a friend she said “but we could start one”! And that is how it all began as they say, and the Comfort Crew knitting group was born.
Today we have over 40 ladies who knit and crochet all year round, making shawls, lap blankets, socks, mitts etc. Some awesome items have come from the hands of these folks.
When we started the group (with no money and no funding) we made an appeal to the public for yarn and boy did we get yarn, Bags, bins, boxes – you name it we got it! We finally had to ask them to hold off until we could sort the yarn and figure out where and how we were going to store it. Most of the Comfort Crew items are made with yarn donated and gifted from the communities that we live in and even those that we don’t live in.
All the items from the Comfort Crew are donated back to our communities. Fairview Manor and Almonte Country Haven in Almonte, Riverview Seniors Residence, Stoneridge Manor, Lanark County Interval House and the Food Bank in Carleton Place have all received the Crew’s cozy bounty. In all, well over 1,000 items have been donated back to the community since the Comfort Crew was formed. Each item sports a custom-designed Comfort Crew label so that the recipient knows where it came from.
The group meets monthly on a Saturday afternoon at the Community Presbyterian Church in Almonte where they have a social time knitting, crocheting, chatting and having tea and cookies. New members are always welcome.
For the first time this year, the Comfort Crew group decided that they would like to try something new by having a table at the Christmas in the Valley Artisan Show at the John Levi Community Center in Almonte in November. The plan was so they would sell blankets and shawls with the proceeds going to Home Hospice North Lanark. This was a 2-day event and the group organized the items and manned the table.
On Saturday November 29, I was invited by Kathryn Stevens to attend their knitting group meeting as they had a presentation announcement for Home Hospice! I was given a bag with a large ball of wool to unravel – which was fun – to find an envelope at the very center of the ball. And then, the big REVEAL – the Comfort Crew had raised over $1,000 for Home Hospice from the sale of their creations. Wow! What a surprise as I had no idea how many items they had sold – over 21 beautiful and unique items. They also received over $70 in donations from people who did not purchase an item but just wanted to donate to Home Hospice.
Thanks to everyone involved in this fundraising event and to all of the ladies who created the items that we donate to help others in our communities – this is absolutely wonderful.
Happy Holidays to everyone and all good wishes in 2026 for good health and happiness.
