Local shop saves Christmas, returns dolls taken by porch pirates

A Saskatoon shop has stepped in to buy back two dolls stolen from a local crafter by a porch pirate.

Matt Wolsfeld makes custom crochet works based off of characters that are meaningful to the customers who commission his work.

He had two dolls ready to ship off, waiting for pickup from a delivery service on his porch when thieves made off with his packaged creations.

With each doll about a 20-hour investment for Wolsfeld, he was going to be short on time to recreate the dolls in time for the holidays.

Luckily, he didn’t have to — he got a call from Twig and Squirrel’s Wild Goods on Monday morning.

The local arts and crafts store, located on 20th Street in Saskatoon, had good news for Wolsfeld.

“They let me know that somebody had come into the shop and sold them my dolls,” he said.

The owners had recognized the detailed dolls from posters Wolsfeld had posted near their shop.

Unfortunately, crime did pay in this incident — the owners of Twig and Squirrel’s Wild Goods handed over $50 to the man to recover the dolls. Woslfeld, though, gladly repaid that amount to the shop owners. He was grateful they were willing to take a chance to help him.

“(The owners) said (the person) wanted more for them but they knew that if they didn’t pay that (the dolls) would’ve ended up somewhere else,” Wolsfeld said.

Wolsfeld said it feels great to have his creations back, ready to send off to their new homes after their pre-Christmas adventure.

“It’s sad that somebody felt the need to take them and try to sell them off as their own but I’m just going to assume that some people are struggling and looking for whatever they can during the season,” Wolsfeld said.

“I’m just glad to be getting them back.”