Comfort for Critters knitters need yarn

A ball of yarn often can be a kitten’s best friend — in more ways than one.

A group called Comfort for Critters is asking for donations of yarn to help volunteers reach their goal of delivering 5,000 blankets to abandoned pets this year.

If you’ve got a partial skein left over from a project, or a dozen you just never got around to using, the group will be happy to take them off your hands.

Comfort for Critters is an all-volunteer program that creates handmade knit or crocheted blankets to comfort animals living in animal shelters. While the pets await adoption, the blankets provide a comfortable bed year-round.

When the animals are adopted, their blanket goes with them, providing something familiar as they adjust to their new environment.

Comfort for Critters has a team of volunteers ready to go, but they are quickly running out of yarn.

“We provide yarn free to whomever would like to make a blanket or two,” says Linda Kastiel Kozlowski, founder of Comfort for Critters. “But now we’ve sent out so much, we’re having trouble restocking.”

Last year Comfort for Critters delivered more than 3,700 blankets to dozens of area shelters, including the Naperville Humane Society in Naperville, DuPage County Animal Control in Wheaton, West Suburban Humane Society in Downers Grove, House Rabbit Society of Chicago in Westchester and Cat Guardians in Lombard. All blankets are delivered free.

Anyone with extra yarn to donate may contact info@ComfortForCritters.org for the drop-off location in Glen Ellyn or visit the website at ComfortForCritters.org,