Grandma crochets 60 hats for Union Gospel Mission shelter clients

With the weather turning colder, 89-year-old Lois Sutton decided to put her skills to work crocheting hats to keep folks in need warmer this winter.

On Monday, she took 60 of her colorful creations to the Union Gospel Mission’s Crisis Shelter for Women and Children and donated them.

“I thought this would be a good place to give them,” she said. “I think the people who get them will like them.”

Sutton, of Spokane Valley, crochets just about every evening while watching television.

A resident of Holman Gardens Retirement Center at 12th Avenue and McDonald Road, Sutton said she has been crocheting for about 70 years – so long she can’t recall who taught her originally.

She takes about three hours on each hat while watching game shows and other programs on television, including every Gonzaga University basketball game.

Over the years, she has given her creations to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – 33 in all.

Each of them has received a blanket from her. She has made crochet gifts for birthdays and weddings, too.

“I crochet a lot,” she said.

Sutton said she has stayed healthy by being a regular square dancer over the years. She attends dances on Wednesdays at the Sinto Senior Center on the North Side, she said.

Born in Michigan, Sutton moved to northwest Washington during childhood.

After World War II, she married an Air Force cook. The family lived in numerous communities, including Spokane, before her husband, Tech. Sgt. Delbert Sutton, retired and the family returned to Spokane for good. Her husband died in 1981.

Margene Nobles, a volunteer at the crisis shelter, said the hats are appreciated.

Often, the women and children who arrive at the shelter have just fled dangerous environments, sometimes without shoes on their feet.

“This is great,” Nobles said of the donation. “Whenever there are donations of any kind it is a blessing.”

Nobles said the number of women and children in crisis has been increasing.

Clients stay at a former motel on East Sprague Avenue, but the shelter will be moving to a new facility in December.

The former St. Mark Senior Living center at Illinois Avenue and Hogan Street will have offices, a kitchen, dining area, chapel, child care area and clinic, all of which will help in providing services to those in crisis.