Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Burlingame
----Source: Clark County Press Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 11/04/2015
Helping to Keep The Little Ones Warm (Burlingame – 2020
By JoDee Brooke
With 125 pairs of mittens and over 80 hats ready to be delivered. Rosella Burlingame is making sure youngsters are warm this winter. Rosella is a resident of Pine View Terrace in Black River Falls. Before moving to BRF, she lived in Neillsville and Merrillan.
Rosella Burlingame started crocheting when she was 15 years old. She bought some books and taught herself to crochet. She is now a resident at Pine View Terrace, where she has plenty of time to knit and crochet. She gives the items to area schools, hospitals and fellow residents. She welcomes any yarn discovered when cleaning closets. “That’s where I’ve gotten a lot of my yarn,” shared Rosella…. Each of her fellow residents have received a lap robe that Rosella made for them. The veterans’ are typically done in a red, white and blue pattern. Photos by JoDee Brooke/Banner Journal
Rosella is now 85 years old and has plenty of time to knit and crochet. Rosella was 15 years old when she started crocheting. “I bought a crochet book and taught myself how to crochet,” she remembers. “Later, after I had kids, I had a neighbor who helped me learn to knit. I still have my mitten pattern from 1959. I had borrowed a typewriter from the library and typed the pattern directions. The typewriter had a red ribbon in it at the time, so the directions are all in red. I’ve made notes on it in pencil through the years. I don’t need to use it anymore. I have it hanging in a frame on my wall. My daughter took it to the Jackson County Fair this last year, I got a blue on it.”
Rosella has given hats and mittens to grade schools in Neillsville and Merrillan and to Red Creek Elementary this year.” Sometimes, I just give them to the teacher, so she has some on hand for shoes kids who don’t have any mittens or a hat when they go outside for recess.”
Rosella also makes lap robes. Each of her fellow residents of the Terrace has one and those given to veterans are done in a red, white and blue pattern She knits booties to give to the families of newborns when they leave the hospital. She has crocheted blankets in every shape and color, depending on what yarn she has available.
“My daughter finds a lot of the yarn I use on Buy, Sell and Trade,” said Rosella. “I get some from people who found some yarn when they were cleaning out their closets. I had one lady who bought me some new yarn and then put a $20 bill in the bag in case I needed anything else. I’m so happy to get the yearn, because I don’t drive anymore, and the knitting and crocheting gives me something to do.”
The mittens and hats Rosella makes vary in size.
“If a kid comes to school with out a hat or mittens, I wanted them to go to those kids,” shared Rosella. “I just want the kids that need them to have them.”
Rosella had bags neatly packed and labeled as to here each one was to be delivered. The bags contained oodles of hand-knit hats and mittens for youngsters, “I just want the kids that need them to have them,” she shared. She also makes booties for newborns to give to families as they leave the hospital.
