Yesterday I alluded to a time where I had a really bad start to a project.\u00a0 One summer while travelling back to my childhood home, I asked one of my two grandmothers to teach me to crochet. \u00a0I had just started knitting, and everyone remarked that crocheting was so much easier, implying that I should have started there. \u00a0\u00a0Both of my grandmothers are talented when it comes to cooking, sewing, crocheting, and quilting.\u00a0 Nanny dabbled in just about every craft imaginable and was an amazing florist, and Mama was a professional seamstress who now crochets to keep her hands busy.\u00a0 The amazing thing is that both share the same birthday (albeit 5 years apart) \u2013 today.<\/p>\n
One is celebrating her first birthday surrounded by loved ones in heaven, and the other celebrates 89 young years.\u00a0 This baby afghan started six years ago almost never came to fruition. \u00a0Following the passing of Nanny in December, I just couldn\u2019t let it lie unfinished.<\/p>\n
When I started the project, I was visiting at Mama\u2019s house, and asked her to teach me to crochet.\u00a0 A quick trip to the Mecca of the South provided tutor and pupil with the needed supplies.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what in the world possessed me to buy purple yarn \u2013 because it was and still is my least favorite color.\u00a0 (Sorry to my Minnesota neighbors, Vikings colors and all.)<\/p>\n
While my grandmothers are equally special in my heart, they couldn\u2019t be any more different.\u00a0 One is just a plain old purple girl, and the other is definitely a mauve maven. As different as they are, they share a love of the color purple. \u00a0Maybe their shared love is what guided that yarn purchase, but other than to make a Vikings scarf, I have never had much interest in purple yarn since.<\/p>\n
When we sat down to start our lesson, I tried as hard as I could but didn\u2019t find it easy or enjoyable.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a condemnation of the teacher, because she was as patient as Job.\u00a0 No matter what I did, my motor muscle memory was still in training for two needles \u2013 not one hook.\u00a0 I completed maybe 2 or 3 inches of the afghan before it was time to load up the minivan with suitcases, coolers, and oh yes, kiddos to head on down to Florida.<\/p>\n
At Nanny\u2019s house, she critiqued the work and gushed about the color.\u00a0 She wanted to see how many stitches Mama suggested to create the ripple pattern.\u00a0 She, too, offered encouragement, but even her tutelage really wasn\u2019t getting me anywhere.\u00a0 At this point, five inches total were done.<\/p>\n
One not to give in too quickly, I took the whole works on a 4-H trip, working while we traversed by Amtrak from Minnesota to New York.\u00a0 After that trip, the whole kit and caboodle (all seven inches) went in the recesses of the craft buckets, not to be seen again until this last December.<\/p>\n
Like a beacon from a lighthouse providing hope and guidance to wayward sailors, the afghan became a vestige of hope for a brokenhearted granddaughter, one who would never this side of heaven be able to work collectively with both of them again.\u00a0 After tackling the Granny squares mentioned yesterday, I was equipped with more confidence and ready to complete the long forgotten baby blanket.<\/p>\n
The resurgence of new found interest was not without problems.\u00a0 Thankfully, I could phone a friend (Mama) and get a few more tidbits of instruction.\u00a0 Also, when you start a project six \u00a0years earlier, most likely dye lots have changed on the yarn.\u00a0 So rather than one seamless project it became a tribute to all things purple in memory of Nanny and in honor of Mama.<\/p>\n
![\"nanny](\"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/nanny-blanket-3.jpg\")
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