MUSINGS ON A VINTAGE MOHAIR COVERLET

My mother's vintage mohair coverlet of many colors

 My mother and dad used to travel to Canada once in a while to visit relatives. While there, Mother shopped, coming home with wool tartans and beautifully embroidered pillowcases. And one year she came back with a gorgeous many-colored mohair coverlet. She brought me a coverlet, too – mostly yellow. I appreciated her thoughtfulness, and never told her that I coveted her coverlet of many colors.

When Mother passed in March of 1997, her children each chose one of her afghans or coverlets. I honestly don’t remember which one came my way, but the coverlet of many colors evidently went to sister Harriet, the eldest. I gave it no more thought . . .

Darn that mouse!

. . . until one day a month or so ago when I picked up some stuff at Harriet’s for the P.E.O. rummage sale. And there on top of a box was Mother’s mohair coverlet of many colors. The damage was readily apparent, but I still loved it. And so, as I mentioned in the previous post, I bought a skein of mohair yarn in Seattle, and yesterday I darned the holes.

Close-up of mended area

An expert darner I am not. Back in the day, Mother tried hard to teach me, insisting I mend my socks as I grew up. I just never got the hang of weaving teeny tiny stitches across a hole, and I knew it was an exercise in futility – so often the way with mends. But – I was determined to mend this coverlet. True to form, I didn’t do a good job, but it seems to me the overall effect isn’t too bad, given that the damage was extensive.

Mended area from a distance

As I finished the work, which took several hours, it dawned on me that the coverlet really does belong in the rummage. It has “seen better days,” as we say. In the mending process I discovered the evidence that mice, not moths, were responsible for the holes, and they had also skimmed off the mohair “fuzz” here and there. Mrs. Mouse probably built a nest that was the envy of all her neighbors. But the fact remains that the coverlet is also soiled but isn’t worth the price of dry cleaning.

Gracing the sofa in my studio

So, maybe it should have gone to the rummage after all, but the good thing is that I don’t have to worry about protecting it. I can use it – and use it up – without worrying about the mice and the moths. KW