A wide array of unique, handmade items were on display at the L.E. Phillips Senior Center over the weekend. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Happy Hookers crafting group set up shop to raise money for the senior center. The sale ran alongside a vintage sale that was held at the same location.
The Happy Hookers are a 12 to 14-person group who meet once a week to work on a variety of projects including hats, blankets, mittens, towels and bags. The majority of the material used to make the crafts is donated by people from the community.
Members Cindy Westphal and Jolene Krimpelbeim were running the sale on Saturday afternoon.
To join the Happy Hookers/Crafters, aspiring members must be at least 50 years old. Westphal said the meetings have a social draw in addition to its fundraising efforts.
“Most of us are retired and belong to the senior center,” Westphal said. “It’s a social gathering too. It’s a nice get-together.”
Along with staple items like hand-sewn bags, blankets, shawls and winter attire, the sale featured inventive designs like crocheted Frisbee-like flying disks, sewn card holders, wine glass slippers and cloth popcorn bags.
Many of the items were priced as low as $1-2, with some larger items ranging from $8-12.
“We try to keep all of our items pretty reasonably priced,” Krimpelbeim said. “We try and cater to people — when people ask for something or bring up a new item, we’ll just figure it out and make it.”
Some of the items the group made by request included circular sewn card holders, with pockets to hold playing cards. Wesphal said crafts like crocheted rubber jar openers and woven netting scrubbers were also asked for by some of their customers.
The members stressed that they are not in this for profit by any means. As Krimpelbeim said, the majority of the materials were obtained for free through donations.
According to Krimpelbeim, the group holds craft sales roughly five times each year. The next sale is set to be held during the senior center’s resource fair on Sept. 16. The resource fair will feature a number of vendor booths and representatives from nearby resource centers.
“I think there are close to 65 different vendors who come to the resource fair,” Krimpelbeim said. “It’s anywhere from insurance people, nursing home workers, health experts and realtors sent to help people navigate the next chapter in their life.”
Krimpelbeim and Wesphal said they enjoy making the items and sharing them with the community.
“We all just get together and have a really good time,” Westphal said.
Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].
