By Bonita Wilborn
Vicky Cedar, a seventy-something Rainsville resident, learned years ago what it is to be in need.
Since that time, she has tried in her own way to help others who are in need.
Vicky’s story began at the age of seventeen in 1960’s Michigan. “When I would get out of school, I would go to my part-time job,” Vicky recalled. “I was working at a dry cleaning place. I made 75¢ an hour.
The lady that I worked for taught me to crochet. She told me, ‘The one thing you have to remember about crocheting is, it’s all a bunch of loops. So when you see a pattern, and it’s hard, you don’t get frustrated. It’s all a bunch of loops.’ I’ve had that theory since I was seventeen.”
Vicky’s boss and mentor not only taught her how to crochet, but she also taught her how to read a crochet pattern. “She instructed me really well,” Vicky explained. “Since then, I started doing it. I take a pattern, I read it, measure it, and stuff like that. It has turned out to be a good hobby for me. At first, it was something to keep me busy, and then when I was married and had kids, it was something I would do in the evening after the kids went to bed. After the kids became teenagers, it was a stress relief. It kept me from going bonkers.”
Vicky continued, “Everything was going well, and I started making different patterns. I thought, ‘Hey, I like this. This is pretty neat. But I didn’t start donating my stuff until about 30-35 years ago (in the late 1980s – early 1990s). After I divorced, Highland Appliance (near Detroit, Michigan) came and helped me with the kids for Christmas one year. I thought, ‘Well, I can do something like that.’ So, when my first daughter was in elementary school, they needed someone to crochet hats for the children for winter. So I contacted the school, I when and got two or three skeins of thread and a pattern, and then I went home and made some hats and scarves. I made up my own pattern for the scarves. They wanted each parent that could crochet to make one or two, but I made about twenty.”
“It just went on from there. I’d hear of people needing something, and I’d make it for them. Back in 2003, I was working at Walmart in Michigan, and a lady told me she didn’t know what she was going to do about Christmas for her family. Her car had caught fire, and her husband was out of work because he got laid off two weeks before Christmas. Well, I crocheted blankets and a hat and scarf for each one in the family. I wrapped them, and my daughter took them up to her door and gave them to her. There were other people throughout the years that I helped. I try to get at least one family every other year or some organization every other year. Sometimes I’ve done it every year, but there are times that I don’t get to do it every year, but I do the best I can.”
Vicky has crocheted various things over the years, including blankets, scarves, hats of all sizes, baby sweaters, animals, baby wags, tree skirts, and one hooded shawl.
Vicky said, “About four years ago, the American Red Cross was looking for crocheters to make red hats for newborn babies. I sent them 54 red hats. One year I gave 10-12 lap blankets to the Eastern Star, and they went to the St. Jude’s Hospital in South Carolina to the burn center there. Another year I sent 7-8 lap blankets. Then I gave eight blankets a couple of weeks ago for the children’s hospital.”
“I plan to start Thursday [July 22, 2021], on my Christmas presents for my family,” Vicky stated. “The yarn I have leftover will go with what I’m doing now, which is making hats for a homeless shelter. I’ve made hats for the bus drivers that bring me to the Bevill Center and for a couple of people here. It all started back when Highlands Appliance helped me back in 1983 or 1984.
It’s helped me emotionally and physically. I have arthritis, and I have to keep my hands busy. It keeps me going mentally. I’ve had so many benefits from just crocheting, and I’m going to continue it until the day I die.”
While Vicky has purchased lots of yarn in her lifetime, she has also been given leftover skeins and balls of yarn that she put to good use. If you have yarn that you would like to donate to Vicky to complete her items for donating to good causes, don’t hesitate to contact the Senior Center at 256-638-4343.