Image from: http://www.knittersaddiction.com
The Naples News had an article this week about a 94-year-old woman named Catherine Rabbito who spends five hours per day working on her crochet. It caught my attention purely because I’m interested in women who are crocheting into their much later years. I’ve been doing a lot of research lately into the potential benefits of crochet among the elderly, benefits that include the delay or prevention of Alzheimer’s. And I love learning about elderly people of all types who are staying connected to their communities through crochet.
Rabbito seems like one of those women. The news report indicates that:
- Rabbito crochets afghans. No two are alike. She also makes some clothing.
- Rabbito donates a lot of her work to people she knows and charities like hospice care. However she also sells some of her work through a local shop in her area. That’s just awesome. I want to still be selling my handcrafted products when I’m in my nineties!
- It sounds like Rabbito might work in thread crochet or lace crochet. The article mentions that she “incorporates raised roses, antique pineapple stitches, and sometimes intricate circles into the afghan”. Not that this can’t be done in yarn but given her age (meaning her history of crochet) and this statement I’d guess it’s a lacier or thread-based project.
The article also goes into fun details about Rabbito’s history of crochet. She learned how to crochet when she was seven and it was her mother that taught her. She’s tried to teach other people but she says that you need a lot of patience to do that. You need some patience to crochet afghans, too, I think – but I get what she means!
Good for her!!
