New Old Stuff

My grandmothers and great-grandmothers were crafty. Some through necessity and some simply for the hobby and the joys it can bring. I love the fact that I can connect on some level with my ancestors simply by twisting yarn into loops with hooks and needles. I love that history. My godmother taught me a lot of my craftiness. She taught me how to cut out shapes of paper carefully, how to glue things, how to sew, how to do counted cross stitch. My mom and great aunt taught me to crochet. My Grandma Y taught me to iron and how to have an imagination. My Grandma G taught me to take my mistakes and learn from them. My Gram F taught me to play solitaire "like you're playing the devil and sometimes it's ok to cheat a little." She died when I was young but knit CONSTANTLY. She never taught me to knit and since she was the last in the "alive" grandparents that I ever saw play with yarn, I HAD to learn how to do it. My friend tried to teach me, but I struggled, she throws left handed and I couldn't grasp it. So PBS shows, a book and YouTube taught me how to knit. Once I learned, I was gifted with Gram F's knitting needles, leftover yarn and her handwritten knitting patterns. It made me cry when I found my name charted out on the backs of one of her patterns. She was counting the stitches to spell my name when she made my Christmas stocking. How perfect?

My godmother is currently visiting our little corner of the world and she brought me a present. In this Wonder Box is fabric from my Grandma Y and some of the great-grandmas. It also contains yarn, both old, scratchy acrylic and wool. And the gem of this box? My great grandma's The Handy Adjustable Yarn Skein Winder. It's in the ORIGINAL box!!!! My godmother and mom set it up trying to figure out the purpose and I got to teach them! It's amazing and wonderful. I really wish I didn't have to go work tomorrow so I could stay up and play with it. It's missing the screw that holds the main pieces to the base, but I can come up with something for that. After all, I am crafty!

I love old, used stuff that still works. And it means the world to me that the women in my family have deemed me worthy of giving me all of these things. In fact with each new gift I'm told that no one else could possibly appreciate the sentiment and usefulness of what many would determine to be "junk." If that doesn't make me feel accomplished, I don't know what would.

Comments

Jaclyn said…
"My Gram F taught me to play solitaire 'like you're playing the devil and sometimes it's ok to cheat a little.'" -- Clearly, Gram F was outstanding!
June 14, 2011 at 11:17 AM
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