Thursday, February 26, 2009

Real men knit mittens

I'm not a morning person, so typically I do my best work at night. One of the problems with that is if I've called someone, unless they know my direct line number, they can't call me back because the number that comes up on caller ID is one of the main East Oregonian numbers.

Such was the case earlier this week when I talked to Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Hansell about the Umatilla County Fair Board naming a path after his brother, Tyler, who died last year. ("Fair paves new tradition," Feb. 25, 2009, East Oregonian).

After reaching the recording, Hansell called back the next morning and was able to leave a message on my voice mail about his brother's first exhibit at the fair.

"Ty exhibited over 50 years ago as a boy ... so his history goes way back," Hansell said.

Because Ty was too young to participate in 4-H, he entered a pair of mittens into the open class exhibits.

"For some reason he got interested, briefly, in knitting," Hansell said.

Joyce Hansell, the matriarch of the Hansell brood, taught Ty how to knit.

"So there is this big strapping, athlete, outdoors man, rodeo man and a pair of mittens is how he got his first blue ribbon at the fair," Hansell.


2 comments:

  1. Who says men can't knit! They do awesome work! I knew someone that did cross stitch and his work was so good, it put mine to shame! I quit cross stitching. I also knew someone that crocheted Afghans and he was so good at that too, it put mine to shame. I quit crocheting. Yes men do awesome needle work.

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