KENNEBUNK — Troops need hats. Simple fact.

It speaks to the good fortune of men and women in the armed services that people like Anna Mazeiko are around to provide them. Mazeiko, a veteran knitter, has been needleworking various garments for much of her life, but in the past year or so, it’s been for a purpose larger than providing comfort and warmth to immediate friends and family.

With help from her daughter, the 87-year-old Kennebunk resident has transformed her hobby into a means of assisting the U.S. military.

“I knit other things, but for the troops, they need hats,” said Mazeiko. “Every hat I knit goes out to them.”

The pastime gained more prevalence in her life when her husband, John Mazeiko, passed away last year. Mazeiko was a veteran of the U.S. Navy.

In the months that followed his death, knitting became a way of passing the time ”“ and a more productive means of doing so than passively reading or watching television. When one of her three grown children, Elizabeth Abdulla, suggested that the fruits of her labor might go to benefit people who are in need of warm clothes, it was a natural fit.

Abdulla, who lives in Salem, N.H., acts as a sort of go-between, collecting hats knitted by her mother, who lives at Huntington Common in Kennebunk, and delivering them to the Pease Airforce Base in southwestern New Hampshire. At Pease, Abdulla liaisons with the person in charge of care packages, and Mazeiko’s hats are then shipped to far-flung locations overseas, where they’re worn gratefully by service members who rely in part on donations. Occasionally, photos will trickle back of soldiers wearing Mazeiko’s creations.

“There’s always something to send,” said Abdulla. “It’s an amazing experience. You can tell they really appreciate it.”

Often needling away in front of a TV, Mazeiko will sometimes knit for up to 2 1/2 hours at a stretch, and typically has seven or eight new hats to give to her daughter for delivery for Pease. She estimates that she’s created about 200 hats over the course of a year ”“ all prominently featuring darker colors, which can be more easily integrated into night camouflage.

She always includes a small splash of brighter color, though, to provide the recipients with a glimmer of joy.

Originally from Massachusetts, Mazeiko spent most of her life in Saco, working as an assistant manager at Key Bank. She taught Abdulla how to knit at an early age. Now, the results of that tradition adorn the heads of men and women across the globe.

“It’s a good addiction,” said Mazeiko. “I can read for only so long, and that doesn’t do anybody any good but me. This at least benefits other people.

“It’s a good feeling,” she said. “If you can do things to help, then why not?”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or [email protected].