Thank you, Grandma

My grandmother passed away at the age of 99 in her own room on the day after Christmas surrounded by family and so much love. Her passing had been incremental. Over many years we lost little bits of her, aging is a cruel and merciless process. Even so, Grandma always maintained a bit of herself and would shine through for a moment which caused both joy and sorrow as we were all reminded of the formidable woman that she had always been.

Grandma was the matriarch. She had five sons and my mother. Each boy (save for one who is gay) married a woman not unlike my grandmother - strong-willed, intelligent, and powerful. I suspect that we saw less of our aunts because they were all of those things, and that made it difficult when they were with her. We did see our uncles quite a bit, because they adored their mother. She was called Shorty by one (which was fair enough, as she couldn't have been much more than 4 feet tall. We all towered over her, even as children.) Another called every Sunday, which she looked forward to. For so many years she kept a notebook of the weeks events by her chair to share with him. When he came out of the closet - when he was well into his later adulthood my grandmother sat next to him, rubbing his back and simply said, "We knew." It was ok, she was always ok with the people that we were. She kept a gift from my uncles long time partner in her bedroom, right up to her death. When my mother asked if she could get rid of it my grandmother was indignant, "No, Andrew gave me that." Andrew had passed away in 1989.

Grandma saved things. As we began to look through her possessions after her passing we found notes in just about every knick knack. They told of who gave it to her, or how much she paid for, and when it came into her possession. She had items from the early 19th century from family who had first settled in the same town we all lived in. Every piece of glassware and furniture told a story of eight generations of our family. Her home was a place filled with art painted by my great grandmother and my uncle, and furniture designed and built by my great grandfather (a man she always called Daddy). Creativity was valued and encouraged. She taught me to crochet. She and I made my prom dress together. I enjoyed spending time with her, even if we just sat silently together.

When I was a teenager or young adult I asked her if she had any silver to polish. I very much enjoy polishing silver, but I also wanted to spend time with her. Both were a little like unearthing treasure. I recalled this as I helped to clean out a cupboard for my family and held the silver tea set I had polished all those years ago. "She would want you to have that," my mother told me, "she always talked about how you would come over to polish her silver." I am glad I did. I will think of her every time I polish that silver, just as I think of her every time I pick up a crochet hook.

For years at the end of a visit home I would hug her and say, "I will see you later, Grandma." Near the end I would say it thinking that maybe, through some sort of magical thinking it would keep her alive until I could come back again. So on the day after Christmas as the undertaker waited in the other room and we said our final good-byes I leaned down and gave my grandmother one last hug, and said, "I'll tell you what I always tell you, I will see you later, Grandma." And I will, in my own idiosyncrasies born of her, in her hand writing as I follow her patterns, in the paintings and knick knacks I took home from her collection, in the craft books she let me have, and in the memories that sneak up and make me smile, and fill my eyes with tears. I will see her.

Foxy Baby

I've been experiencing a dry spell, which for me means that I have not crocheted any major projects for a while. I've worked on a tablecloth, made several hot pads, a mat for my cat, cat toys, used scraps to start a blanket, frogged that blanket and started another, and futzed with various other unfinished projects. So when a friend and co-worker requested a baby blanket for an upcoming shower I was grateful for the challenge.

I crocheted a dragon for my friend's baby shower, and had set the bar pretty high. I searched for patterns in hopes of fining at the very least inspiration. I came up short. I took a chance and bought some yarn. She had requested a fox themed blanket, so at the very least I could start with the right colors.

I began the project with no plan. I followed no pattern. The fox, not unlike Michelangelo's David just emerged from the raw materials. One day I might have to sit down and transcribe the patterns I divine, but until then- here is another one of a kind creation.

Crocheted Colorado Stripe Afghan

In an earlier post (Breakfast Scarf) I wrote about my mentor. About a year ago she contacted me via Facebook asking where her crocheted gift was. I assume she was joking, and possibly inebriated. I thought, I may as well make her something, after all she did have a significant impact on my life. I asked her what she wanted and she. She did not know, but suggested something with her mother in mind. Her mother had recently passed away unexpectedly. I enquired further if there was a place or color that reminded her of her mother. She told me Colorado and Yellow, and then she had to run.

I began working on a blanket. Actually I began looking for something to work on I googled "crochet" and "Colorado" and eventually came across a pattern for a Colorado Stripe afghan. It was from a book called The Great Afghan Book. I ordered the book, and began to follow the pattern once it arrived.

The book was one that my grandmother had referenced in her notebook. The first pattern I ever followed was from this book. I was glad to buy it, and am sure that I will end up using several of the patterns.

I worked on the blanket sporadically, and eventually set it aside as other projects grabbed my fancy. Finally in that in between period where my fancy lay dormant and I had nothing else to work on I remembered- I need to finish that blanket some day! And so I set to work, and when I finally tied off and wove in the last strand I thought briefly of keeping this for myself, but instead took a picture, shared it and tagged my mentor, "It's yours if you want it"

Now, I just have to make sure I mail it before another year goes by!

Follow the simple pattern below to make your own!

* * *

 

Crocheted Colorado Stripes

Worsted Weight Yarn (any two colors)

Size I hook

Make this as large or small as you like, I used about 6 skeins for this particular blanket.

With color A – ch 194 loosely. Work in pattern stitch as follows.

Row 1 (foundation row): Sc in 2^nd ch from hook *ch 3, sk 3 chs, sc in next ch, rep from * across

Row 2 (patt row): Ch 1, turn, sc in first sc, *ch 3, scin next sc, rep from * across

Rows 3-5: Rep row 2, 3 times. At end of Row 5 change to color B in last sc.

Rep Row 2 in the following 12-row sequence

2 Rows B

1 Row A

1 Row B

1 Row A

2 Rows B

5 Rows A

Rep 12-row color sequence until you are satisfied that the blanket is big enough! Weave in the ends and border as desired. I sc crocheted around once and finished with a scalloped edge (*ch 1, sk1, 4dc in next ch, sk 1, sl st in next st, repeat from * around. Tie off and Weave in ends.)



The Gorgon Medusa

Every now and then I leaf through an art book, looking for inspiration. I had imagined that I might find some gory painting of a saint. Saint Sebastian will some day rise out of a skein of yarn, I swear. But this time I was inspired by Caravaggio's Medusa (painted in 1597). It is a haunting image of the Gorgon frozen in the moment when she sees herself as what she is. It is horrifying and tragic.

I had no plan (or more specifically, no pattern) for how I might pay homage to Medusa, and obviously I could not hope to replicate the mastery of Caravaggio. I also culled inspiration from Ray Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans, and as I worked I played Clutches "Release the Kraken" repeatedly in my head.

And when it was all said and done, I am pleased with the results. Behold, the head of the Gorgon Medusa (as held by the hand and forearm of Perseus).

Monkey and a banana

It is summer, and who wants to make blankets in the summer? But due to all the babies made during the winter I feel I should make something to celebrate their birth. And so I set to work on a monkey.

It sometimes happens that when you start a project without a pattern the end result might be a different size from your original idea. Upon completion of this particular project it was requested that I hide it, as it caused undue terror every time either my roommate or I wandered into the living room and saw it there. Giant monkeys can be unnerving, even if they are adorable.

The monkey was good, but there was something missing. After a discussion with a co-worker it was determined that it was a banana. The monkey needed a banana. So once again I took up hook in hand and got to work.

I think I needed to make something that was cute enough to counterbalance the Medusa head I've been working on. I think I may have succeeded.

And just in case the monkey and the banana were not enough, I threw in some bunnies for good measure.

Inching into spring

Living in Buffalo makes spring one of the most precious seasons of the year. While it seems like the rest of the country bursts to life in verdant brilliance we inch slowly towards it with one crocus at a time. The sight of a daffodil has been known to inspire squeals of glee. Though I have not seen the official sign that the season is upon us, that being a shirtless man doing yard work or riding a bicycle, I have heard the tell tail warnings. There may be one warm say (highs in the low 70's) and a without fail some one will say, "I don't know if I can take this heat". Fear not, because the next day it may well, and did, snow.

Not much changes for me, except maybe the colors and themes of what I am working on. Since winter ended I have finished a few projects but am largely in that in between place, much like spring itself. No particular project has seize me and thrilled me. More babies are on their way, the staff art show looms on the horizon, and several projects lay dormant - set aside in favor of some other endeavor.

My plastic bag yarn continues to proliferate. I made "the perfect crochet beach bag" from a pattern found on Pinterest, and I mailed it to a friend in a gift basket, which included one of the four fat adorable Easter bunnies I made using no pattern. Plastic bags were also turned into nested baskets through crochet alchemy. I converted a pattern for a shirt into a dress, which I may or may not wear to an event at work...or ever for that matter.

 



I suppose that even for a dry spell its still pretty prolific. I better get back to work, there are still projects that need to be realized!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (a week early)

Today at work my colleague, who has begun to crochet requested that I figure out a pattern for her. She had seen a blanket she wanted to make, no doubt to celebrate her Irish-ness (translation-American Irish, not to be confused with actual people who live in or came from Ireland). At any rate at the end of a long work day she forwarded a picture of the afghan she wanted to make.

After five o'clock I headed home and worked on figuring out the pattern and then transcribing it for about 5 hours- through True Detective, Girls, Walking Dead, and Bates Hotel I worked, until finally I could produce something to be shared. It is late, and I am tired.  I just hope this pattern isn't complete nonsense.

Now, perhaps you can help me here. This pattern is untested. I've provided a link to the pdf of the pattern below.  Test it out for me, and let me know if it works, or makes sense. Feel free to make suggestions. Thanks, and happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Click here to download a pdf of this pattern

Grandma's notebook project 8: Lily Sugar 'n Cream String Bag

At the top of this pattern in my grandmother's notebook she writes that this bag was made for me.  Once I got over the guilt of not recalling the bag she must have made for me, I got to work making one myself.  This is definitely a pattern I can get behind.  As soon as I finished one bag I started another.  The second bag was made from recycled grocery bags.  As I have been collecting grocery bags to make plarn this is an ideal pattern.  Ultimately even though I did not remember the bag the Grandma made this pattern certainly was , as she wrote, for me.

If you would like to make this bag for yourself you can find the pattern here.

There ought to be a law

My grandmother's home, much like my own, has always been draped in yarn. Whether knit or crocheted, every surface is covered.  Doilies on tables, antimacassars and afghans on chairs, and throw rugs throughout the house.  In the few years prior to the move which would consolidate my family into one home I would overhear, on occasion, my grandfather express disapproval of the a fore mentioned throw rugs. He was never a man to disparage anything that my grandmother did, however he was having more difficulty getting around, and those throw rugs didn't help.  After slipping across the floor one too many times he declared to his ever adoring granddaughters, "There ought to be a law." Evidently this law would forbid the placement of throw rugs without rubber backing in the homes of octogenarians. It actually seems like a reasonable law, however the rug in question was one lovingly crafted by my grandmother with his initials in it.  She was so proud of that rug, and there was no way that it would be removed, even there had been a law.
During a recent visit I found a booklet entitled "So You Want to Make a Rug". The bookshelf in the entry way, which held my grandmother's craft books, had been dismantled in order to put in a new floor.  I poured over the books, in awe of their magnificent kitsch. Grandma gave me permission to take the books, and even added more to the pile.
So, don't be surprised if one day I break that law about throw rugs in the home, because somethings are just to wonderful to be left in the 1970's.

Keepsake baby blankets

When you work in an office with mostly women you will have to go to a baby shower or two (or more).  This past year I had the opportunity flex my creative muscle with these keepsake blankets. Neither was done with a pattern.

Before I knew she was pregnant I planned to make this blanket. I had just delivered the Squirrel Baby costume to another co-worker, and I asked my office mate what kind of animal themed baby blanket she would like.  She laughed and said, "a giraffe" about 2 months later she shared her good news.
I searched for a pattern, but but finding nothing I opted to create one myself, using primarily a hexagon motif.

It was not long after my office mate announced her pregnancy that another co-worker happily shared her news at a staff meeting. I listened for queues to figure out what kind of blanket I should make for her. When I received the invitation for the shower I was delighted to see that it was to be a dragon themed party, given her affinity for Game of Thrones. Once again I could not find a pattern. I ended up using a crocodile stitch and combining a basic hat pattern for the hood.