Jane Carty is a winner at Farm Show with crocheted items

Ellen Jane Carty has never been to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, but she has picked up awards both years she entered crocheted items in the Family Living competition.

Carty, 91, took second place in January for a round tablecloth. In 2009 an American flag, now mounted, also took second, and a runner placed third.

Her fingers have been busy with the crochet hobby since 1965, when co-workers at Stanley Company taught her the craft. Since then her creations have been prodigious. She has made doilies, wall murals, curtains, placemats, decorative ornaments, and other items for her home or to give away.

"I've got to have something in my hands," she said. However, "my stitches are not quite as close as they used to be."

Carty lived on Enoch Brown Road for 54 years. She and her late husband George had nine children. She has 23 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. She now lives on Tyrone Street near her daughter Susan Martin.

If Carty doesn't have a needle and thread in hand for her current project of incorporating the Lord's Prayer into a runner, she enjoys knitting, reading, and the 'Bent and Wiggly' word puzzles. She has given up sewing.

"And she makes the best apple pies," added Martin.

Carty knows what she is getting into when she starts something. The first flag hangs in her living room. The Farm Show piece went to a son. The construction of that one took "a long time," she admitted. "About four months."

The 2011 Farm Show will take place Saturday, Jan. 8 - Saturday, Jan. 15, at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg. Admission is free. Parking is $10 per car. For additional information about the show, visit www.farmshow.state.pa.us, or call 717-787-5373.