The Knit Before Christmas Winter 2016

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Founded in 1834,

SCI is a voluntary,

ecumenical agency

affiliated with the

Episcopal Church that

provides pastoral care,

maritime education, and

legal advocacy services

for mariners.

The newsletter of the

Seamen’s Church Institute’s

Christmas at Sea Program

In this Issue

WINTER 2 0 1 6 VO L U ME 1 0 / NU MB ER 1

The Seamen’s Church Institute

Just as every stitch fromevery knitter contributesto mariners’ warmth

during the winter months,every dollar you give toSCI upholds the valuableservices we provideand on which the entiremaritime communitydepends.

A Grateful Art After Christmas, things go back to normal for most people. The big stresses of “Will it fit?”,“Does he have one already?” and “Can I return it?” fade into distant memory. Most peoplebreathe a sigh of relief: the gift-giving is over.

But according to the Bible, things don’t return to “normal” after the birth of Jesus. Instead,the story gets a lot more interesting. One of the most famous tales of gift-giving unfoldswith a visit by some foreigners from the East.

Matthew’s Gospel recounts that King Herod summoned wise men to find out about the

birth of Jesus. They set out, following a star they’d seen in the sky, until it led them to ahouse. There they met Jesus and Mary and gave them gifts.

The type of gifts the Magi brought did not include new baby clothes, toys or a hamperfull of diapers. The story says they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh—thingshardly practical for a young child. Wouldn’t it have been better to bring somethingmore down-to-earth?

Some people believe that the Wise Men’s gifts have deeper meaning. They say that theirofferings stand for something out-of-the-ordinary. The gifts might represent the sort ofthing one would bring to a king in the first century, for the Wise Men sought “the childwho has been born king of the Jews.” The gifts could also indicate what the Wise Menthought about Jesus—what kind of person they thought he was and about the kinds ofthings he would do in his life.

Like the Wise Men’s, your gifts have special meaning, too. They express gratitude. Eachstitch—time out of your day when you could be doing a thousand other things—offers agift of thanks. Your hard work making scarves and hats shows an appreciation of mariners’ hard work.

After we’ve unwrapped all the presents, it may seem odd to think any more about gifts,but mariners’ stories don’t stop at Christmas. They journey on; and as they do, they carry

with them symbols of our appreciation.Your knitted and crocheted garmentskeep on giving beyond Christmas. Theyshow that someone remembers men andwomen working out on the water, andthat’s a gift valuable as the finest gold.

If I were a Wise Man,I would do my part;yet what I can I give …Give my heart.

—Christina G. Rossetti (1830–1894)

Paige’s Letter 2

Year in Review 3

Stuff for Your Calendar 4

The Samantha Cowl 4

The Simple Things 5

Letters 6

https://donate.seamenschurch.org/give



The Knit Before Christmas Winter 2016 • 2 seamenschurch.org

Come visit theChristmas at Sea

knitting room inSCI’s Port Newark

InternationalSeafarers’ Center.Email [email protected] to find out how.

Need help? Turnto your knitting

friends forsupport. Checkout Christmas at

Sea’s Facebook page to meetnew ones.

Looking for a PDF of this newsletter thatyou can read on your iPad or email to afriend?

Dear Friends,

As winter 2015 approached, it dawned on me that this season markedmy fifth anniversary with Christmas at Sea—and what a five years ithas been! From moving our program from our building in NYC to our

new base of operations in Port Newark, to washing and drying the thousandsof handknits that felt the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, to introducing the1898 Hat, each year seems to bring something new and different.

2015 was a happy year, starting with a partnership with North Light Fibers.It overjoys me to have this wonderful company producing beautiful yarn forthe benefit of our CAS knitters and the mariners who wear our gifts. I enjoyedseeing things come full circle this year when I could send North Light FibersBlock Island Hats to seven stranded seafarers in Germany for Christmas. (See the story on page 5 of this newsletter.)

As more and more stitchers join our fold, and we collect more and more hatsand scarves, I can’t stress enough the value of each and every single item. Wedon’t have a shortage of heads needing hats; and I am forever grateful thatwhen I put the call out, the Christmas at Sea army takes up its needles andhooks. You folks are absolutely amazing!

For the past five years, I have been lucky enough to come to work at whatis possibly the best place on earth. Living as I do in a major metropolitanarea, it is so easy to get caught up in the anxiety of modern life, the “me, me,me” attitude and to-do list competitions. But you, my stitchers, teach theso-important lesson of sacrifice for others. Many of you call or write to sharestories of your own life’s journeys—deaths, births, sorrows and celebrations. Inand among all that, you still take the time out of your day to do something—anonymously—for someone else. What a gift! I wish more people wouldfollow in your footsteps. If I had my way (and a limitless budget), we wouldhave encased our new Merit Badges in solid gold. (Alas, they’re just stickers.)The endeavors they represent would be worth the expense.

As we close out 2015 on a high note, and I am more than excited about what2016 will bring. Stay tuned as we soar to new heights!

Yours gratefully,

Paige

Need…

Patterns?

Tags?

Readyto mail?

Christmas at Sea118 Export StreetPort Newark, NJ 07114Paige Sato, Program [email protected]

Winter 2016

Published by the

Seamen’s Church Institute

seamenschurch.org

The Rev. David M. Rider

President & Executive Director

Editor, Oliver Brewer-LennonDesign & Production by BlissDesignThis newsletter is printed on recycled paper.

http://www.seamenschurch.org/

mailto:psato%40seamenschurch.org


mailto:[email protected]



mailto:[email protected]

http://smschur.ch/knitb4xmas

https://www.facebook.com/ChristmasatSea







TheYear in

Review

Thanks to the efforts of people like you, marinersserved by SCI received warm Christmas greetings

this past year. Christmas at Sea collected 22,281 knitteditems and sewn ditty bags from approximately 1,100 individuals and

250 organizations throughout the country.

We distributed 5,390 gift sets (a set could include a hat and scarf) to seafarers and 8,971 gift sets to mariners along our inland river system. (If you tied the yarn used to make all

these projects end to end—over 6.08 million yards—it would stretch from New York City all the wayto London, England, with a little bit left over to weave in the ends!)

The most common projectour stitchers sent in? SCIreceived over 3,524 (knittedor crocheted) Seafarer’s WatchCaps and over 2,038 Seafarer’sScarves. While some of youchose to make complete sets—we received 2,402 sets in 2015—others of you sent in items asyou made them. (Althoughnice, sending in sets is not arequirement, and—as you cansee by the numbers—we canmatch up singleton hats andscarves. In fact, making up sets is

part of the fun for our volunteershere in Port Newark.)

While we collected animpressive number of knits, wealso “collected” an impressive

number of new stitchers. In2015, Christmas at Sea welcomed 250 new volunteers! Manyfound us through word of mouth(Thank you all!), others cameto us through social media (ourvery active Facebook page), someread about us online (on blogslike The Fringe Association andthe online Atlantic Canadian

journal Rustik) and folks learnedabout Christmas at Sea throughtraditional print media (thanksto lovely articles written in VogueKnitting and Crochet Today).

SCI staff enjoy tallying up the Christmas at Sea numbers. Everysingle stat means another smilebrought to a mariner’s face. Andbecause there’s always one moremariner who can use a warm hator scarf during the winter, our Christmas at Sea stitchers seem toup the ante year after year.

Merit Badges

As we tally up the numbers here at Christmas at Sea , keep a lookout for your Merit Badges.They come in 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 knit incre-knits to celebrate the awesome efforts of our volunteer stitchers.

While we try our hardest to keepperfectly detailed records, sometimes things get muddled. Occasionally, wecannot identify a box (e.g., we can’t finda note inside or the box has a damaged

return address label), and sometimeswe get behind in our internal record-keeping. If you think we might havemiscounted and we owe you a meritbadge, let us know with a gentle email

or call. Thanks for your patience as weroll out this new way of recognizingyour hard work, and remember that anyknit that gets to Christmas at Sea willfind its way to a vessel.






Th eSimple

Things by Paige Sato

In today’s modern world—with all itsconveniences and excesses—it’s hardto believe how meaningful a simple

hat can be. But let me tell you, it truly is.

On December 1st of this year, I receiveda surprise email direct from a USmerchant ship docked in Bremerhaven,Germany. The email read:

Good Day to the good people at SCI

Christmas at Sea Program,

We are seven US mariners who due

to circumstances beyond our controlwill be stuck tied up here on a “dead”unsea worthy US ship The Courage. Weare located just across the street fromThe German Seamens mission. Theone located next to the port. Here inBremerhaven, Germany. My questionis please is there anyway to receive theappreciated Christmas at Sea gifts for our“accidental tourist” seven US seamenstuck here. Until the ship is finallycleared by all the red tape to be towed

away to be scrapped? Which has nowdragged on for months …

Please forgive this e mail. I had to typeit out on a Geramn keyboard. Whichis “a bit different” than a standard USEnglish keyboard.

God Bless SCI for all you do to helpus mariners,

Sincerely,Skeleton crew unofficial morale officer,Karl Mayhew

Karl’s email demonstrates theimportance of Christmas at Sea. Asthe self-appointed morale officer, Karlknew that handknits would mean moreto his small crew than any gifts hecould purchase.

Karl knew of the Christmas at Sea program because he’s been a seafarer for

many years and has often visited ourcenter in Port Newark. After receivingthis plaintive request, I quickly replied,and soon we became email pen pals.Karl’s ship, the US Courage, had had afire earlier in the year and was docked inGermany waiting for a replacement crewfrom Turkey. A skeleton crew of sevenAmericans were “holding down the fort”until that crew arrived, but the timelinewas unclear.

As luck would have it, I had just

received a box with a number of ournew Block Island Hats. Although Iusually hesitate to put hats of the samecolor in the boxes for the same crew(as a mother, I understand the value ofmaking sure my kids’ garments are easyto pick out in a crowd), I felt Karl andhis crew truly deserved these fine hats,beautifully knit in this warmest of yarns.I packaged them up, along with variousother sundries and games.

About ten days later: (Karl doesn’t

appear to cope any better with theGerman keyboard.)

The Warmest Greeting to you Paige andYour SCI Angels to Mariners,

Bless you, Päige, yöur present packagehas arrived. I made arrangements tohave it transported to the German inport See-mans Missiön. Then I will handdeliver it tö öur Ship’s Good Bosün,Pete. As per löng standing ÜS mariner/märitime custom. Then Bösün Pete will

deliver öur/yöur SCI gift package tö öurship's Captain ön Mönday mörning.

Mäny Thanks. Möre updates tö yöu asit häppens.

Best Yöu,Märiner Kärl

After Christmas, Karl followed up with

this note and photo (upper left-handcorner of this page).

Paige,

Our First time ever young Captainplayed “Santa Claus.” He put by ourdoor your warm and wonderful specialorange yarn hats. I must say these hatsare toasty warm. Here in Bremerhaventhe first snow fell. I had to walk from ourship into town today to pick up neededRx's for a sick shipmate. Thank youfor keeping my head warm. I did take

the wrapped present by our door phototoo, trying to find in my silly photophoto gallery.

The Australian Shepherd in the photo(I hope you can see the dog?) he is themascot of The German See-mannsWelcome Center. His name is Sparky.

From Across The Big Pond,Many thanks,From Karl and his German four leggedcomrade Sparky

And then right before New Year’s:

Good evening Paige,

The first big and only snow storm hitBremerhaven. I just walked from thedead ship Courage to the GermanSee-manns Center. Whoever did thedesign of your warm hats should becommended. The larger size comes inhandy to pull down way below the earsto keep more of one’s face and head areaprotected from the elements.

Many thanks,Mariner Karl with a warm head andears :-)

Christmas at Sea gifts

warm heads and hearts

around the world.





SCIThe Seamen’s Church Institute118 Export StreetPort Newark, NJ 07114

seamenschurch.org

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT #99

NEW HAVEN, CT

C H R I S T M A S A T S E A


Merci Beaucoup! Gracias!ありがとう! Дякую! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!Parents worldwide have done right bytheir sons and daughters. The thankyou notes that come in after crewshave received their Christmas packagesshow the signs of good upbringing.Mariners find a way—even thoughthousands of miles away sometimes—to show their appreciation for yourbeautiful handiwork.

Good day Rev. David M. Rider,I would like to thank you and your wonderful volunteers for theChristmas parcels received from The Seamen’s Church Institute whileberthed in Newark on 25th Nov.

A Big “THANK YOU” goes to the members of the Tuesday KnittingClub for creation of their lovely knitted hats and warm garments. So aspecial mention to Barbara, Betty Jane, Joanne, Pat, Mays and Ginger.And also to Georgia B. Jervey for her nice letter and poem.

The mainly Filipino crew were very happy to receive these items,many of which were put to use straight away in the cooler climates of ourUS coastal ports. We just couldn’t wait until Christmas day.

My crew wish to send their thanks for your generous gifts and wishyou a very good year ahead. It is so nice to think that your organisation isthinking of seafarers at this time of year, when we are separated from ourloved ones. We feel blessed with your support and continued help to allseafarers calling at Newark. Please pass on our thanks to your memberswho have assisted in your Christmas gifts program.

Many thanks and best regards,

Capt. Rachel D. KeownMaster – Maersk Vilnius

Dear SCI,Thanks for the Christmas Box. Please express our appreciation to all responsible.Will’s card took its place on the Galley window sill.

From Captain Grayford Franks and CrewM/V AEP FUTURE

Dear Volu nteers,This is the Turkish-lag vessel of master of KaanKalkavan. Once I would like to sending our greetito you and your families in middle of the Atlantic

Ocean. We distributed your kind gifts to crew lastnight which are received from our New York agendear Peter Aljian. We opened the packages and wwere very happy in this moment. This small giftsare very big and great happiness for who are woraway from our countries and families. Hence we aso grateful and appreciated you.

I and my crew wishes you happy, healthy andpeaceful new year for you and your families.

Best regards,

Capt. Barış TÜRKMENOĞLU M/V KAAN KALKAVAN

Hi,The crew of the M/V Buttercup would like tothank y’all for y’all gifts merry Christmas.

Timothy PicouM/V Buttercup



The Knit Before Christmas Winter 2016

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