An endless supply of yarn combined with Taunia-Lynn Oddy’s love of crocheting is continuing a legacy that started from someone’s kind gesture to her own mother over 2,000 kilometres away, and is now bringing comfort to local seniors.
Oddy, who moved here from Ontario in 2021, is keeping the memory of her late mother, Gloria Bergner, alive by crocheting lap blankets with the copious amount of yarn she inherited, approximately 15 large tote bins of it.
After her mother passed away from ovarian cancer in 2018, Oddy found herself with “enough yarn for years” and put it to good use. During treatment, her mother had received a small bag comfort items, including a small, handmade blanket that inspired the project.
“When I lived in Ontario, I had made many blankets and donated them to the chemo department at the hospital in my mom’s honour,” she said. “I had also made many into prayer blankets that were blessed by my minister and those were donated to Rainycrest Home for the Aged.”
When Oddy made the decision to move cross-country, the yarn came with her, and she now has seven “funky” little blankets to donate to residents in Eagle Valley Senior Citizens Housing. She added that while these ones haven’t been blessed, she might approach Pastor Bob Evans about doing so in the future.
“Using my mom’s yarn, she would love that I’m giving it to a cause of some kind,” Oddy said. “I’d love to share her collection of yarn with people in the community who would appreciate using them.”
“Using my mom’s yarn, she would love that i’m giving it to a cause of some kind.”