A troop of knitters and quilters who have found solace in the activity since the pandemic began have turned their efforts inwards to help cover those in need on Whidbey.

When Luanne Seymour and Darcy Sinclair first started making blankets in 2019, it was for immigrant children at detention centers.

The group of sewers had been convening every Friday for several hours in Langley at CreateSpace to collaborate on blanket projects.

The arrival of COVID, however, changed things significantly for the donations-driven, volunteer-powered group known as the Whidbey Blanket Makers.

Friday gatherings have been swapped for Friday Zoom meetings, and the group has changed its focus to not only kids, but also teenagers and adults. Instead of donating the quilts to the border, they all go to the island now, including the Whidbey Homeless Coalition, Citizens Against Domestic & Sexual Abuse, Readiness to Learn, the Mother Mentors Parent Pantry and foster children.

Patricia Griffin, a knitter, joined the Whidbey Blanket Makers and a knitting-centered “Warming Whidbey” project was launched. For those who prefer knitting over quilting, they can make hats, scarves, gloves or mittens to be donated to the Whidbey Homeless Coalition.

As of Thursday, Whidbey Blanket Makers have quilted or knitted a total of 208 blankets.

Blankets are still the primary item being made by the group, although hats are another popular item to create.

“We almost never get to see who we give them to, except once,” Seymour said. “Some mother gave us a really cute picture of her baby with one of her quilts.”

The group has been facing a growing demand this past year.

“I don’t know if that’s been because of the pandemic or just if the pandemic revealed the need on the island,” Griffin said.

Thanks in large part to the influx of knitters, the number of members of Whidbey Blanket Makers has tripled since pre-COVID times. Around 60 people total are part of the effort.

Those interested in volunteering their time to help make a charity quilt are still welcome. Blanket-making kits are available for pick-up on Fridays, and the group has an email list with helpful tutorials.

Sinclair said the group is most in need of long-term quilting services. Sewing the teenager- and adult-sized blankets can be costly and time-consuming.

“We know that local long arm quilters who offer this service as a business are often over- tasked with requests for donations,” Sinclair said. “We’d like to find people that have long arm machines that would like to partner with us in some way to quilt our larger quilts. Maybe they teach us how to use their machine, or maybe they quilt them.”

Seymour said for many, being a part of the group has helped provide much-needed socialization during the pandemic, especially for those who live alone.

“It gave them a project they could work on and we provided everything,” she said. “They’ve just felt like it was therapy for them to make something.”

Post-COVID, the blanket makers plan to meet again in-person.

“I think a real community has formed, and I think once we’re back together people will be delirious because it is that sense of community doing good,” Griffin said.

The “soul-satisfying” work is expected to continue for quite some time.

“I don’t think that there’s ever going to be an end to the need for this,” Seymour said. “If everybody on Whidbey had a blanket from us, we would just start to spread out to other areas.”

For more information about Whidbey Blanket Makers, email Seymour at luanneseymour@outlook.com or Sinclair at darcysinclair@icloud.com.

Patricia Griffin, left, and Darcy Sinclair hold up blankets recently made by the group.