For Marilee Johnson, what started as a simple interest in getting back into knitting has grown into a thriving donation project called the Knitting Ministry.

In conjunction with several customers and members of her church, Puyallup’s Christ Episcopal, Johnson and the Knitting Ministry have donated more than 300 baby hats and blankets to hospitals and community organizations in Pierce County.

“It was so sweet the other day at church, they had all these blankets and hats hung on the rails,” said Sue Wohford, a member of both the church and the Knitting Ministry.

The ministry also makes prayer shawls, which are blessed by the Rev. Benjamin Newland, and they are sent as part of care packages to American troops in Afghanistan.

Johnson started the process when she picked knitting back up about a year ago, and when customers at her store, Johnson’s Jewelers, saw her knitting, they wanted to do it, too.

“I never thought I’d be knitting again,” she said. “It’s fun.”

Johnson and her daughters knit blankets, and customers bring in crocheted hats, some of which are specially made for different causes; purple hats go to babies with Shaken Baby syndrome, and they make larger, often multi-colored hats, for the Department of Social and Health Services to take when they remove children from homes.

“It just makes you feel good,” Johnson said. “There’s always a need for it.”

Wohford is proud of her church and the various ways in which its members reach out into the community.

“You hear about something good, and it makes you smile, and it makes you want to do something good,” she said.

Wohford said community members are enormously grateful; the church gets thank-you cards from Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma and from the chaplain who is involved with the troops.

And, being able to help out by knitting and crocheting is quite meaningful for members of the church.

“It brings a lot of the older members together for a feeling of worth,”  Wohford said.

The Knitting Ministry has also donated to Franciscan hospice in Tacoma and sent many blessed afghans to the patients. One such afghan was so beautiful that it was selected to hang in the meditation room at the hospice.

“They said it was one of the most beautiful blankets they’d ever received, which makes the women feel really good,” Wohford said.

All in all, Johnson said, all of the roughly five members of the ministry pitch in to create many different hats, blankets and shawls of different colors.

“There’s so much garbage that we hear about, it’s nice to hear about something good,” Wohford said.

Meredith Lawrence is a freelance reporter for the Herald. To learn how to contribute to your community newspaper, call Editor Brian McLean at 253-841-2481, ext. 310, or email brian.mclean@puyallupherald.com.