 |
| SUMMIT PHOTO BY BOB FENSKE
Margaret Madsen has made several afghans that are being sent to Operation First Response, an organization that supports military personnel who have been wounded in battle. |
A Crochet Machine
Forest City's Margaret Madsen may be legally blind
but her hands still work their magic ...
By Bob Fenske
Of The Summit
Margaret Madsen may be legally blind, but it certainly hasn't stopped her from crocheting.
Over the years, the 82-year-old Forest City woman's deft handiwork has resulted in hundreds of finished afghans, and they've found their way to her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren and her great-great grandchild.
But her afghan empire is expanding this week after Madsen recently donated seven afghans to Operation First Response, a group that reaches out to wounded veterans.
She decided to make a donation to the program after her son-in-law, Forest City Street Superintendent Barney Ruiter told her she “should make some for the soldiers too, and I thought, you know what? Why not?”
Madsen came to crocheting somewhat late in life; in fact, she said she didn't pick up crochet needles until the last of her seven children left home.
“When you have seven kids,” she said with a laugh, “you don't have a lot of time to do much besides wash clothes and cook food.”
But for the past 30 years, she's been a virtual crocheting machine - making afghans and bedspreads for those seven kids, her 24 grandchildren, her 19 great-grandchildren and the one great-great grandchild.
She admits that all that crocheting can take a toll.
“I do it most every day, and your hands and wrists feel it after a while,” she said. “But it keeps me busy and I think the kids like them.”
Her face twinkled as she paused for a moment. “At least, they've never told me they didn't like them.”
Madsen's daughter, Barb Ruiter, wrote in an e-mail to Operation First Response that she found it “pretty remarkable that a blind woman can crochet afghans to send to veterans,” and she received a reply from the organization's vice president, Carolyn Crossley, almost immediately.
“I just read [this e-mail] to my daughter-in-law, and she has tears in eyes,” Crossley replied. “Please, please tell your mom for me, this is truly a wonderful act.”
And Madsen says she - aches and pains notwithstanding - she'll continue to crochet.
“The hands still work so I'm certainly not going to stop,” she said. “It is a little strange to think that these are going to go all the way to Washington.”
Again, she smiled and her laugh was infectious.
“I guess I'm branching out, but I hope they like them. I know those veterans have been through a lot, and I want them to know that we care about them.”
Story created Sep 02, 2008 - 13:47:39 CDT.
|
