from the Dallas Morning News

By KIM HORNER / Staff Writer
Published 06 February 2011 08:45 PM

Carol Sobol made a few scarves for the homeless. Then a few more. Now, two years later, she and others have knitted and crocheted more than a few — about 1,200 and counting.

They finished the latest batch — including 138 scarves and 141 hats — just in time for last week’s wintry blast.

The project, called It’s a Wrap, donated the handmade gear to the Dallas Faith Communities Coalition, a nonprofit working to eradicate poverty in West Dallas.

“The scarves are going to children in West Dallas,” said Tara Powell, spokeswoman for the coalition.

Last week, she picked up boxes and bags of the handstitched goodies during an event at the Legacy at Willow Bend, a Plano community with independent and assisted living where some of the volunteer scarf-makers live.

“It’s going to be a real treat because they really don’t get much,” Powell said. “We’re extremely grateful for all that you have done.”

The group has donated scarves and hats to many other organizations, including homeless shelters Austin Street Centre in Dallas and Samaritan Inn in McKinney . The project has even spread beyond Dallas-Fort Worth. Sobol’s niece is handing out some of the scarves in Denver.

The creations come in a variety of colors and patterns. Some of the hats are decorated with a knitted flower.

The volunteers do their handiwork behind the scenes, one stitch at a time while watching TV, meeting over coffee, traveling by plane, or even while recovering in a hospital bed. The women spend an average of two hours to make each scarf.

Sobol, who lives in Dallas, has recruited about 18 volunteers. That includes her mother, Sissie Fleischer, and her mother-in-law, Shirley Rosen.

“Thank God this has blossomed,” said Shelly Weinstein, Sobol’s sister, who also makes the scarves.

Sobol, vice president of Addison Foods Inc., said her project began when she knitted scarves for a niece who collected them for the homeless in Santa Fe.

It costs her $36 to mail those scarves, so she figured it made more sense to give scarves to people in North Texas.

“One thing kind of led to another,” Sobol said.

Last summer, she organized a mah-jongg tournament with an admission fee of four skeins, or bundles, of yarn. She ended up with a few hundred skeins.

Sobol also set up a table in the lobby of her office building to collect yarn donations. Soon she had more yarn than she knew what to do with.

That’s when she called the Legacy at Willow Bend.

“I said, ‘I’ve got a bunch of yarn and I’ve got an idea. Do you want to join me?’” Sobol said. The answer was yes.

The women gather at Legacy every Monday afternoon — needles in hand — around an art table filled with yarn in a rainbow of colors.

The sessions are a chance to socialize.

“We need projects like this,” resident Helen Wunsch said. “I think everybody is enjoying themselves.”

Devora Radoff, a retired psychologist living at the Legacy, said she’s glad to know the scarves will help keep children warm.

“There’s lots of need in Dallas,” she said. “It’s nice to do something for kids who might need it and might appreciate it.”

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