Crochet Lessons
Posted By Cori on October 22, 2009
Growing up I had my very special Grandma Eddie. Actually, she was Grandma Nellie until my sister’s first child could not say “Nellie” and it came out in a very cute “Eddie” (love you, Jeni-Pen). Grandma was thrilled – she did not like the name “Nellie” and threatened me when I suggested using Nellie as a middle name for one of my children. Some of my favorite things about Grandma Eddie were:
Thanksgiving at her house (especially when my Utah cousins came to visit)
Grandma’s rolls
the giant Hershey’s chocolate bar in the door of the fridge
vanilla ice cream in a turquoise, square, melamine bowl (we always licked the bowl and told Grandma it was clean so she didn’t have to wash it)
crocheted afghans
I don’t ever remember a time when my Grandma Eddie (I think all of us kids and grandkids called her “my” Grandma) wasn’t crocheting something. She made afghan blankets for every member of our family. Every so often Grandma would make me a new blanket based on the colors I requested. She did this for all the kids and grandkids. And when we all started having kids of our own, she would make blankets for our kids. It was a tradition partly based on the fact that no one else in my Mom’s family knew how to crochet.
A few years ago, Grandma’s health started to fail. By then my Mom was caring for Grandma in her home and my sister and I helped out where we could. I suddenly came face to face with the reality that Grandma was not going to be with me on the Earth forever. I was devastated. And I recognized that if none of my Mom’s posterity knew how to crochet, then the tradition of afghans for each member of Grandma’s posterity (on my Mom’s side) would be lost. So I took it upon myself to ask Grandma to teach me.
Days on the couch in my home sitting side-by-side with My Very Own Grandma Eddie. It was Heaven to me. I loved watching her arthritis-riddled hands work. I can still see them clearly in my mind’s eye; I can even feel her skin. Oh! How I miss her hands!
And I learned to crochet.
Grandma passed away just a month after my first Grandson was born. She got to hold Gideon, but I made his afghan blanket. And I made one for my Granddaughter and my Great niece. I am so thrilled to be able to carry on this tradition! And each time I make one to give I think:
“From Grandma’s hands, to my hands, to yours…”
Recently I was crocheting and I felt agitated and frustrated. I kept making mistakes and having to pull out whole sections of the afghan I was working on. For some reason, I was being stubborn and wouldn’t just put the piece down – I had to plow through and got more and more upset.
Suddenly, a thought came into my mind and I could clearly hear Grandma Eddie say, “Focus on each stitch.” I stopped briefly and thought through my actions. I had been so focused on completing the afghan, that I wasn’t taking the time to simply enjoy the process and my love of crochet! When I stopped feeling the pressure of getting the blanket done, but focused instead on making each stitch as beautifully as I could, my anxiety started to ebb and I no longer made mistakes. And, amazingly, I was completing rows in record time.
Life is like that. When we make the time to enjoy the process – the journey – then life flows more smoothly, our anxieties ebb, and life itself becomes more enjoyable. We find pleasure and peace in the day-to-day. There are still challenges and trials, but we are more calm and handle them better – without making even more mistakes or making our mistake worse.
Thanks, Grandma Eddie, I love you. ‘Til we meet again…
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okay, lump in my throat. I miss her so much that it hurts. I never saw a frail, sick gramma. I moved away when she was healthy and then I flew home for her funeral. People told me that she wasn’t going to be around forever but I didn’t really believe them. Sometimes I still don’t believe them. I miss her everyday too…. and I am glad that you are still carring on the art of crochet. In fact, when Olivia saw that picture of her and the blanket she said “Blintee” she loves that thing. It is starting to look loose and worn but it is still beautiful, it is actually starting to look more and more like my gramma eddie blanket that I still sleep with every night. (Dan says that I love that blanket more than him, and you know what…..he might be right.!) Love you.
What a beautiful post and what a beautiful your Grandma Eddie left you. Bless your giving heart.
Ambar in Puerto Rico
Thanks for being a sentimental person. You help me realize that traditions and family and relationships connections are really the most important things we have. I love you, Mom!
Oh, I am having a hard time typing this message through the tears. Your story about your Grandma is similar to mine. The only difference is, my Gram raised me from toddler age, when my Mother decided to abandon 5 children. I can also remember my Grandmother’s hands, always crocheting, making doilies and tablecloths. She passed at age 80, the night before my son’s 1st birthday. I too was devastated and I still miss her so. My son will be 35 on Nov. 4. Oh how time fly’s. Thanks for sharing your story. It has enabled me to go back in time, even if it was only for a few minutes. Such tender memories that I will carry in my heart forever.
I enjoyed your story about your Grandmother. Mine lived until she was 104, but was not in good shape. I used to watch her cook and am sorry now I never really paid attention to how she did things. She had lived with us from the time I was around 6 and she would babysit me after school. I have very fond memories of her. Thanks for bring some of them back.
What a lovely post…I too had a grandmother like yours. She was such an angel to all 5 of her grandchildren. My grandmother only had two sons. One was handicaped and never married or had children so my fathers children were her only grandchildren. She loved us like we were little princes and princesses. She made us all feel that way anyway. She made special food for us, told us stories she made up for just us and she sewed our clothes. She taught me all of her special tallents from sewing to crochet. I will always love her for that. When I sew or crochet or knit or do anything that she taught me I can feel her love and her presence with me. Grandmothers are special people. Now I am a grandmother and I only hope I can be as good as she was at loving my 11 grandchildren… Thank you for a lovely story and reminder of a special love.
Like the rest of us, I still miss her so much it hurts sometimes. Thank you for the memories and for the gift of crochet to my little family. I love you Sis.
I had my “Grandma Eddie” too. Only we called her Mama Warren. She was my best friend in the world. She was 59 when I was born and I lost her when I was 27. I’m now 53 and still miss her terribly.
This is such an awesome story, I too had a grandma that was so special, she made her grandkids feel so special, I lost her when i was still 13 yrs old. I still to this day remember her, her house, the fun we had together. I wish i would have had more time with her but God took her. I still feel she is watching us, even today.
[...] the response to my last blog post is any indication, Grandparents really are special people! What a gift for me to get to read about [...]
[...] and endlessly, I understand. Since she passed away before I was born, I would often ask my Grandma Eddie about her mother. Grandma Eddie mentioned several times how Grandma Mae’s hands would fly [...]
[...] on a Sunday and the fun started immediately. I made a roast beef with all the fixings (including Grandma Eddie’s homemade rolls). And then we went out back for a fire in the fire pit and s’mores. By the [...]
Wow Mom – I don’t remember reading this post before. So beautifully written. Haven’t cried over missing Grandma in some time.