Betty Roberts spent most of her career as a government employee, working "to change the world."

Though she has retired from her position at Fort Meade, her work hasn't stopped.

Two times a month, Roberts, 68, of Mount Airy surrounds herself with yarn, needles and a close-knit group of friends, knitting and crocheting for charity.

The Howard County Community Knitting and Crocheting Group, which has met for more than 14 years, knits and crochets baby clothes, hats, scarves and blankets with donated yarn. The women meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at the Kiwanis-Wallas Recreation Center in Ellicott City.

Roberts, a member since the group's inception, coordinates the gatherings. The group started with three members and has grown to 32.

"I'd guess we pretty much wrapped all of the county in blankets," she said.

The group will meet almost any request it receives, Roberts said, and has donated items to many shelters and facilities over the years. The women primarily knit and crochet clothes, hats and blankets for newborn and premature babies, donating hundreds of them to Howard County General Hospital.

"There's not a newborn born without a knitted hat from us," Roberts said.

Valry Fetrow, a hospital spokeswoman, said the group is constantly "bringing bags and bags of beautiful things," so the supply is never low.

"Each baby gets something unique to take home," Fetrow said.

Over the past few months, the group has taken on a patriotic theme, knitting and crocheting hats and blankets for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Roberts estimated that in the past three months, the women have sent more than 100 hats to soldiers and more than 200 blankets to Walter Reed. After the group's most recent meeting on Wednesday, Roberts anticipated having another 100 hats, which the soldiers wear beneath their helmets, to send.

The group also sends clothes and blankets to an orphanage in Iraq, a project inspired by Roberts' son, Peter Doerr, who is stationed near the orphanage with the National Guard. For members Emilie Sadowsky and Ruby Racine, the patriotic theme fits with the reason they joined the group.

Sadowsky, 57, and Racine, 73, neighbors in Columbia, joined the group after Sept. 11, 2001, as a way to give back to the community. "We wanted to do something to help," Racine said.

Many of the women are retirees who joined the group as a way to keep busy, but they have found their membership to be filling more than free time.

"It fills our creative need to keep going and fills someone else's real need," Sadowsky said.

United by a sense of pride in giving back and their love for knitting, the women laugh and chat, sharing stories, jokes and tips, as the needles fly.

"When they get together, sometimes they remind me of teenagers," Roberts said. "Just having the best time."

The meetings aren't the only time the women knit and crochet, and many bring in bags of items they have finished on their own time.

"None of us can stand to watch television without picking up a needle," Sadowsky said.

Tables filled with more than 30 blankets and dozens of items of baby clothing are evidence of the women's love for knitting and crocheting.

Roberts calls the women of the group "professionals," saying they "perform miracles" with everything they create, but many of the members feel that they are the ones who benefit.

"We're lucky that we can give something back," Sadowsky said.

emily.groves@baltsun.com