Any day now, any day now
May 31st, 2010
I bought this afghan at Goodwill on Friday. It was four dollars, and the workmanship is flawless. As soon as we pulled it off the rack Hazel’s eyes widened, her little fingers floated towards the colorful flowers as she whispered something indecipherable, and I decided that we must have it.
Upon closer inspection when we got back home, I found a little commercially made tag with the words “From the needles of” and the woman’s name. I thought that perhaps, having gone through the trouble of making such nice tags, she’d owned a business or did frequent craft fairs or something like that, so I did what any normal person would do (right?), I googled her. No location or any other info, just her name.
And of course in the top five results were PDFs of two church bulletins from Catholic churches in the eastern panhandle, both containing her in the prayer requests. Mikey says “oh yeah, there is – or used to be – a priest over there with that last name.” There’s my “in” – I can pepper an email to a stranger with “I’m catholic too!” and “my husband knows of this priest!” and “by the way he’s doing a phd in theology!”, right?
I picked a random email address from the most recent church bulletin and wrote, explained the blanket, my googling, my hope to track down the woman who made it – if she is still alive – and let her know her beautiful work has found new life with a little girl. I mentioned that my (theology student;) husband knows of a priest by that last name and thought perhaps she was a relation.
I got an email back yesterday. The nice lady that I randomly chose was very excited to hear my story and said she’s almost certain it would be the same person. The crochet-hook-wizard is in her 80s, and still kicking it at mass every week with her husband Abe (cousin to the priest Mikey was thinking of, who turns out to be this parish’s former pastor) and playing bingo twice a week. ADORABLE.
I have her address and will be sending her a letter and photos as soon as I get them printed. I hope she’s happy that someone loves her blanket and not upset by the detail that someone had to donate it to Goodwill first.
Listening: The Band
(I am) Reading: The Poisonwood Bible
(Hazel is) Reading: The Family Book, The Peace Book, and The Grandma Book – this is almost all she has been “reading” to herself over the past few days, over and over and over
Working on: finished sewing Hazel shorts so now I can do doll stuff! ; but after I finish up some custom jewels that I must deliver this week
May 31st, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I am jealous of how beautifully she’s joined them! Did she crochet them together or sew them? It’s an awesome find!
May 31st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
This is amazing!!!!!! What a great story and how wonderful that you found her and will be sending her a letter. I often wonder about handmade items I pick up in thrift and vintage stores and have daydreamed about tracking them down, but I’ve never found anything that has been marked.
May 31st, 2010 at 7:33 pm
They’re definitely crocheted together but I have no idea how. I keep trying to decode… maybe you can figure it out from some macro photos :) I’ll take some tomorrow if I think of it.
May 31st, 2010 at 9:13 pm
this is why i love you :) I would never think of finding this woman -she will be so excited to get your letter!
May 31st, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Wow, what a find at Goodwill! That story sounds so amazing it almost seems like fiction–(not that I think it is!)–it just totally falls into the category of “you can’t make that stuff up.” Can’t wait to see if it is that lady’s quilt and what her response it. :)
June 1st, 2010 at 9:49 am
Now that is really a ‘feel good’ story! I’m sure that lady will be pleased to know her blanket has a happy new home with a little girl to appreciate each of those flowers.
June 1st, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Alex, this is one of the MANY reasons I love her, too! :)
June 14th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
[...] am still working on blanket information, but have so far gathered the following tidbit: the priest Mikey thought of when we googled the [...]
June 17th, 2010 at 10:14 am
[...] of other small-world anecdotes. I tell them about the blanket, whose status I am now updating to The Blanket. [...]