For a woman from Steinbach, crocheting is so much more than just a hobby. Hilda Friesen is using her love of crochet to bring smiles to children this Christmas. She makes unique hand-crocheted dolls and donates a portion of the proceeds from each sale to the Steinbach Community Christmas Toy Drive. The annual campaign provides gifts for children whose families are registered to receive food hampers, and this year, organizers expect to need about 2,100 toys. Crocheting with purpose Friesen’s passion for making dolls began at home. “Make me one too. Would you make me one too? And that’s sort of how it started,” she said, remembering how her great-grandchildren’s excitement inspired her to keep crocheting. She now has nine great-grandchildren, six boys and three girls, and each of the girls owns one of her handmade dolls. “They love them,” Friesen said with a smile. “They’re just hugging them and it’s special. That was pretty cool.” Her creations soon caught the attention of others. “Friends kept asking, would you make me one too?” she said. “And then there’s been some adults actually who have said, you know what, we’re all just big girls and I want one for me.” A gift that gives back Encouraged by her family to take part in a craft sale, Friesen decided she wanted her work to benefit a good cause. “When I finally decided that I would, then I said, I’m going to do a part of that for some charity,” she explained. “It was just natural that I wanted to do something for the toy drive because it’s toys and it’s Christmas.” Ten dollars from every doll sold will go to Steinbach Community Christmas. “Often I feel like being on a fixed income, I don’t necessarily always have the money that I would love to donate to those kinds of projects,” Friesen said. “And this will give me extra money, hopefully.” Handmade with love Friesen’s dolls are made with care and attention to detail. “There are no two that are exactly the same,” she said. “It takes me about three or four days to make one doll, working about five or six hours a day.” Each doll’s outfit is crocheted directly onto the body, and she uses safety eyes to make them durable for play. “There’s no way any child will ever, unless they would totally rip the doll apart, get that out,” she said. Friesen draws inspiration from many sources, often creating her own designs. “Now I just look at pictures of dolls and I think, oh, I could do that,” she said. “I use the basic body pattern and then the rest is my own.” Community connection Friesen will be at the Clearspring Centre Craft Sale in Steinbach from November 14 to 16, selling her dolls for $60 each. She plans to have more than 30 on display. While crocheting is a creative outlet, Friesen says it is also meaningful work that she can do anytime. “It’s something that I can put down and come back to,” she said. “And it gives me purpose.” Her hope is that her dolls bring joy to both the children who receive them and the families helped by the toy drive. “It all works together so well,” she said.