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Sara Koepp: Love Guides Her Handiwork

By Claudia Stahl

Every morning Sara Koepp has a cup of coffee and hurries to her chair to knit.

Koepp, who will be 88 on Halloween, has already made more than 140 scarves for the homeless in her town of Milwaukee WI. The scarves will be distributed by the Salvation Army and a local rescue mission around Thanksgiving.

Each scarf, 46 inches long and six inches wide, takes Koepp two days to make. But the time is irrelevant to her. With each expert stitch, she thinks only of the protection the scarf will bring its wearer during brutal Wisconsin winters. "I have warm feelings as I'm making them," said Koepp. It is a switch for Koepp to be working with two needles rather than one. As long as she can remember, Koepp has been making sweaters, blankets, tablecloths and a wide array of other items using a no. 8 crochet hook.

The bedspreads Koepp crocheted for her children are by far her most magnificent handiwork. Cultural centers in two states have featured the bedspreads in special exhibits, touting the originality and the quality of the work. "She has been told that her skill is unmatched anywhere in the world," said son Edwin F. Koepp, MSc, ACSW, of Plymouth, MN.

But Sara Koepp does not give herself as much credit for her skills. When Koepp saw her bedspreads displayed for the first time, she almost doubted they were her own creations. "I walked in the room, stopped in my tracks and said, 'Whoever did all that must have been nuts," Koepp recalled with a laugh. "They represented so much time."

Appraisers have valued Koepp's works at thousands of dollars, but Koepp thinks only of the love when she estimates the worth of her bedspreads, the first of which she created more than 40 years ago for her daughter, Sallie Ann, then age 16. "I wanted her to have it for her hope chest," said Koepp, who at that point had never made anything more intricate than a sweater.

Koepp was passing on a tradition that started with her mother, also a master at handiwork, who began a hope chest for Koepp when she became engaged at age 16. Together they made linens with crocheted edges, embroidered table cloths and dresser scarves which graced Koepp's home when she married two years later.

It took Koepp two years and more than 200 balls of cotton thread to complete Sallie Ann's bedspread--she knows, precisely, because she saved the empty spools. Koepp decided to continue the tradition for her sons. In the ensuing years, she has made socks, hats, tablecloths and baptismal shawls for her grandchildren, great- grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. In those days, Koepp worked on her bedspreads at a pace of five rows per night, once the housework was done. Sometimes she worked beside her husband, Edwin, a police officer, as he watched television. When her husband was on night duty, the crocheting helped Koepp to pass the hours.

The blue ribbons that Koepp won at state fairs for her bedspreads, tablecloths and afghans still evoke the warmest memories. "The first time I got a blue ribbon, my husband dropped the word at the station and all the men congratulated him as if he made them himself. He blossomed under it, he was so proud," Koepp recalled.

The uniqueness and quality of Koepp's handiwork is the result of meticulous planning. All of her designs were first mapped out on graph paper, which she also used to chart her progress. When people take a close look at Koepp's bedspreads, they laud the consistency of the stitches, all single and double, and the difficulty of the patterns. They are even more impressed that Koepp's spreads are completely reversible, identical on both sides.

Koepp, in her humble fashion, thinks in more practical terms about her bedspreads. "They all can go in the washing machine and the dryer, so no extra effort is needed to keep them clean," she said.

The bedspreads haven't needed much cleaning; none of her children actually use them. "They have them put away," said Koepp, with a degree of agitation.

Having had two strokes, Koepp today can more easily manage knitting needles than her crochet hook. She lacks the energy to take on a project as extensive as a bedspread, but she does make scarves, hats, socks, sweaters and bonnets. When Koepp is not knitting, she occupies her time by reading and putting together jigsaw puzzles with her son, George, as her cat sleeps in the lid of the puzzle box. "My days are really filled up pleasantly," Koepp said.

Koepp has received thank-you notes for her scarves, but she does not expect any recognition. "I only hope that along the line someone will say, 'she was a nice lady,'" Koepp said.

She measures her life achievements not in bedspreads, but the closely woven threads of her family.

"Some years ago, I was in the hospital three months. When I became aware of my situation, I knew there was a lot being written about me on...a schedule of my daily routines posted on the door. The commentary said that I had such a close family. I was the envy of every patient on the floor. "

Sara Koepp believes she is only one of many caring people in the world. She could not afford to make her scarves, she noted, if it were not for the people in her community who donate the wool toward the cause. "I have a lot to be thankful for. I have never gone to bed hungry and never had a broken bone. If I should live to be 100, I would like to have a sit-down dinner with all of my family," Koepp said.

This story originally appeared in Advance for Occupational Therapy Practitioners, October 27, 1997.