ROGERS (KFSM)-Mary Catherine Neil loves watching soap opera and Razorback games, but you’ll always find her crocheting during her favorite shows.
“I take it when I travel-- cruise, plane, anything, I take my crochet,” she said.
She said she’s known how to crochet all her life, but about a decade ago, her daughter Julie was in the hospital for cancer treatment.
“I learned to pack up my crochet, so that's where I really got involved in this, and then I start making these hats,” Neil said.
“Mom's hats they're handmade and everyone's different,” Lisa Dragonetti, daughter said, “and you can tell they're kind of special.”
Five years ago Mary Catherine’s daughters signed her up for the War Eagle Fair without telling her.
“We opened the booth, and it was a huge success,” Dragonetti said. “It surprised us all, and so every year we've had the booth and all of us daughters come and have a little get together and we sell mom's hats.”
Even Mary-Catherine’s son, daughter-in-law and four grandsons get involved.
“We just have a lot of fun,” Neil said. “They go shop a while, and one says, ‘Oh we’ll be right back,’ and they'll take off and go shop a while and you know how that is.”
Now the 77-year-old makes at least one item per day in preparation for the fair. She has over 400 items on display this year.
"My hats are my main thing,” she said. “We try to add a different pattern every year and this year were gonna have the Pom Pom ones and then the fingerless [mittens].”
“We’re just really proud of her,” Dragonetti said.
You can find Mary Catherine’s booth set up inside the John Q. Hammons Center. The main location of the fair is next to the War Eagle Mill in Benton County. For more information click here.