Thank you, Mom!

I’ve posted about many crafts but my personal favorite thing to do is to crochet. My DM taught me to embroider, to crochet, and to knit. My earliest memory of actually doing needlework was when I was about 8 or 10, I think.

For years, on into high school, I continued to embroider. Sometimes it was cross-stitch; other times, what I thought of as “line embroidery,” the outlines of the stamped-on-fabric graphics. Back in the 40s and 50s, young girls dreamily made embroidered items for their Hope Chest. It was a gathering of items for their lives as married women. Day-of-the-Week pillowcases (can you believe it?), table runners, and more. Eventually, I realized I was not very good at embroidery. My stitches were often too tight and made the fabric pucker.

As for knitting, most of my efforts were right before and during high school. I did a little knitting on into the 70s. However, like embroidery, I was never really happy with my results. I didn’t seem coordinated enough to work with two needles at one time. My tension was tight and uneven. My work never looked smooth and delightful, but my DMs work did. Eventually, I stopped that, too.

What has continued from Day One is my love for crochet. I think I did that first. We used linen handkerchiefs then, and I begged my mother to teach me the Lover’s Knot edging, a fanciful, airy, sweet and lacey edging. It was tricky but I started practicing my chain stitches, and then the others. I went on to crochet neck scarves for the cold East Coast winters, and more. To this day, I love crochet, and the more I do it, the more I love it. The more patterns I try, the more I want to try.

I have no real reason for this post, this discussion, except to remind myself how lucky I am that I was taught early on to do something that has brought me joy and peace all my life. Thanks, Mom - I wish I had thought to thank you while you were here. I’ll thank you in person, some day.