The Circle of Life

I learned to knit + crochet from my Grandma, one rainy day when I was a little girl. (Isn’t that how so many of us learned? A weary adult trying to find a way to entertain us and contain a bit of the boundless energy? I fully admit to teaching my boys just so I could get them to sit down for a few minutes) Now, she’s too arthritic to be able to do any stitching, though she asks me about my projects whenever I see her. I know she probably misses being able to work with yarn, although it wasn’t an all-consuming passion for her like it is for me. I think it was more just something all women her age knew how to do, as much a part of a young Brooklyn girl’s education as knowing how to make gravy and meatballs.

Her birthday is this coming Monday, and I though there was no more appropriate gift than a handmade blanket, born of the craft she passed on to me so long ago. I started this on Saturday night, but had to rip out all but the first row I did that night, because I was distracted watching a movie and did the stitch all wrong. The pattern is the 5 1/2 Hour Throw, modified to work on a slightly smaller hook, with doubled yarn. I’m using Homespun in a plum shade, and Red Heart in a medium pink.Only for her would I suffer through these yarns, because I know she’s neither got the space nor the inclination to handwash a wool blanket. I know she’ll love snuggling up in this, and then being able to toss it in her building’s massive washing machine without worry.

Happy Birthday, grandma!