NORTHGLENN —At 85, Orville “Mark” Skattum still mows the lawn, revs up his snowblower to clear neighbors’ walks and volunteers at his church and the nearby senior center. He cooks up a mean lefse, a potato-based Norwegian flatbread, and makes hard rock candies and several variations of peanut brittle. Though he makes concessions to the physical toll of age, wedging naps into his schedule and scheduling cochlear implant surgery to restore his hearing, Skattum continues to follow a simple ethic. Be useful.
That philosophy lies at the heart of why he became an improbable entry, or at least a demographic outlier, in this year’s fourth edition of Holiday ManCraft — the tongue-in-cheek, testosterone-infused craft fair with a definite hipster flair.
It runs Dec. 5 in Denver and Dec. 6 in Boulder.
Seven years ago, when some friends came over to watch football on TV, Skattum found himself fascinated by a small, round knitting loom one woman tended as she watched the game. She explained that she was making caps — knit beanies.
Skattum subsequently got a loom of his own that fall and dived in. By Christmas, he passed out about 20 of his caps as gifts. Later, at a family reunion in Minnesota, he delivered five dozen more to relatives.
“They thought I was going off the deep end,” Skattum says. “But I do enjoy it. It’s relaxing to me. I can’t sit and watch the tube all day — it would drive me right up the wall.”
Still, he wanted his craft work to do more than fill idle hours and warm family noggins. Inspiration struck one day while he watched a TV news story about homeless veterans, and a voice inside him whispered: Why don’t you knit for them?
“I feel sorry for the ones that have a hard time,” he says. “They’re homeless or out of work. The least I can do is help out a little. I guess I’ve got a soft spot for them.”
Skattum, who continued the family’s farming tradition and also served in the Army National Guard during the Korean conflict, remained stateside during his military hitch. But he maintains a strong connection to others who have served — one that becomes evident almost any time he speaks of veterans and his eyes go moist.
“I’d go again if they called me,” he says. “I felt honored to serve.”
He wanted the beanies, which he weaves in various sizes, colors and designs, to carry a message. His daughter, Karla Tillapaugh, asked him what he would like to appear on the tags. He told her exactly: “Made by a Vet, for a Vet … God bless.”
“And then,” she recalls, “he broke down in tears.”
He can churn out a single hat in about three hours, two or three a day when he’s really rolling. But he aims to average about five per week.
He began to amass lots of 50, which he would alternately turn over to his church and to the Veterans Administration hospital in Denver for distribution. He estimates that he has crafted more than 1,200 so far. Nearly all of them have been variations on the basic beanie theme, though he has done a few ear-bands.
Last winter, Tillapaugh joked to her dad that he should get a table at Holiday ManCraft, which she had just attended for the first time. She described the collection of men showcasing their crafts, told him how much she enjoyed it and thought no more of the conversation — until last summer, when Skattum informed her that he had an inventory of more than 150 caps for the event.
“I looked at him and went, ‘You do?’ ” she says, recalling her sudden panic. “Inside, I was thinking I don’t know how to get him into this. I had to quickly write the ManCraft people and say, ‘I’ve got a little story to tell … ‘ “
She e-mailed Stu Alden, who launched ManCraft, with the tale behind her dad’s burgeoning beanie production and a plea to procure a table. Virtually all of the other participants have websites showing their wares, but Tillapaugh could only send along digital photos of the beanies he had made for family members.
Alden had no qualms about welcoming an applicant who stretched the range of exhibitors.
“How can you say no to that?” he says. “There was something really touching that he got excited about it. When his daughter e-mailed me right after the call for entries went out, I let her know that same day he was in.”
Besides, the setting — at a VFW hall in Denver and an American Legion post in Boulder — seemed such an appropriate fit for a craft performed largely to benefit veterans.
But suddenly, Skattum’s undertaking needed a name. After family-wide consultation, Tillapaugh’s son came up with the winner: Orville’s Bucket, playing on his distinctive given name and playful slang for a hat.
There are other details to iron out, like how much to charge for a product that to this point he has only given away. But whatever he makes, he will donate to charity.
“I know I’m not touching the tip of the iceberg for homeless vets,” Skattum says. “But I’m trying.”
Kevin Simpson: 303-954-1739, ksimpson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ksimpsondp
Mancraft
The fourth annual Holiday ManCraft event will include more than 40 men showcasing their products over two evenings at two locations. The first 50 people in the door each night receive a “man sack” of goodies.
4-10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at VFW Post 2461, 1350 S. Broadway, Denver.
4-10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6 at American Legion Post 10, 4760 28th St., Boulder.
