Posted: Dec. 30, 2009 |(0) Comments

Over the decades, Phyllis Resop of Wauwatosa has knit sweaters, blankets and scarves, usually as gifts for family and friends. The items show she cares enough to take time to make items that provide warmth and comfort.

This year, her knitting needles served as tools to help people she likely will never meet. With many people having trouble just meeting basic needs these days, she saw an opportunity to use her skills. She knit more than 80 items for Milwaukee area charitable organizations in 2009.

"It's really cold out there this time of year, and there are plenty of people in need of warm clothing," she said.

Last week, Resop dropped off numerous hats, scarves and mittens for Cathedral Center Women's Center in Milwaukee and socks and scarves for participants of the Cathedral Center's homeless lunch program.

"No matter how many I make, they run out of them," she said.

Babies benefit, too

Some of her handiwork went to the Wauwatosa-based Spina Bifida Association of Wisconsin. They needed items that could be placed in a care package at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin for parents of new babies born with the disease, in which the spinal canal fails to close creating a lesion on the spinal column.

Initially, she made lace-up booties big enough to go over leg braces. Then she designed "a backward baby sweater" so infants with spina bifida could stay warm; it adjusts in the back so it will not interfere with medical tubes.

Helping a friend

Even with all of her charitable works, Resop was able lend a hand on another project this year that would pay off in ways she never imagined.

Her friend Arlene Wilson needed help continuing a family tradition. Her grandmother had knit baby shawls for Wilson's children and grandchildren. With a great-grandson on the way, she wanted to create another shawl using the heirloom pattern.

The idea was for Resop to teach Wilson how to knit and to mentor her through the process of making the shawl. But the more than 100-year-old pattern needed translating into modern instructions, and the handiwork looked exceptionally intricate.

"I thought 'This is going to be extremely complicated,' " Resop said. "She could do basic knit and purl but not the more complicated stitches."

While Wilson struggled with her pieces, ripping out stitches and starting again, Resop went to work on a baby shawl of her own.

Work deemed superb

Resop had planned to enter an adult-size afghan in a 2009 Wisconsin State Fair competition, but she was so pleased with the shawl, she decided to give that a shot as well. The prior year - her first competing - she took fourth place, so she wasn't expecting a top finish.

"This year I decided to find out how the judging worked," she said, explaining that judges look at every stitch, even turning the pieces inside out to look for errors.

She was floored when her afghan and shawl took first place in their respective categories. The judges realized how complicated and labor-intensive the work was and said they stood out above the other entries.

"I ran out of there and called Arlene to tell her I had won a blue ribbon," Resop said. "Until that point and time, she didn't even know I had made it."

When Resop tried to give Wilson the winning blanket, she refused to take it. Instead, Wilson told her friend to keep it until she became a grandma.

"She turned right around and made another one for my birthday," Wilson said.

This time Wilson accepted the gift and was able to give the shawl to her grandson at Thanksgiving for his son. The baby was born Dec. 10 and was photographed with the blanket for his birth announcement.

"He came home from the hospital in it," Wilson said.