By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE’S Enid Richards is proof that soldiering on gets results.
Ms Richards, 86, threw in the towel on her knitting hobby after becoming a resident at Healesville’s Monda Lodge, due to arthritis in her hands.
Not wanting to give up and watch television for entertainment, she instead picked up crochet needles and started a new hobby – since then, she has mastered the craft.
Able to whip up a crochet-flower in less than 15 minutes, Ms Richards recently took out two second-place awards at November’s Lilydale Agricultural and Horticultural Show for two of her crochet rugs and a highly-commended award for her other work.
She said she was “thrilled to bits” with the result, and that she was a newcomer to the show.
“I’ve never put anything in the show before – not since I was at school, and that was only a drawing,” Ms Richards said.
She told the Mail that she spends her time crocheting to avoid boredom, and has made rugs and flowers for many of her family and friends.
“I just got bored sitting and watching television, so I started crocheting every night,” she said.
“I just love doing it.”
Her room at the Lodge is a patchwork of different crochet pieces, including a crochet-covered vase filled with crochet flowers, tea-cosies and rugs galore.
Ms Richards said that she would often make three or four of her flowers before hopping into the shower in the morning, though her acclaimed – and colourful – rugs take her a while longer.
After receiving her Lilydale Show awards, Ms Richards said she wanted to create another rug, and was looking at possibly entering the show again in 2015.
“My hand is starting to scrunch up a bit,” she said.
“(But) as long as I can hold a crochet needle, I’ll do it.”
