Stick With What You Know
Last night, as I sat mumbling to myself over a crochet project, hubby mentioned I was doing “full on Grandma”. There I was in a rocking chair, reading glasses perched on my nose, bright light shining over my shoulder, my mother’s needlepoint footstool under my feet, and her knitting basket full of yarn. Yup. Full on Granny! The reality is I had made a ridiculous decision and now am suffering the consequences.
I had taught myself to crochet a few years back, and managed to whip up a few fun “amigurumi” gifts for family and friends. Amigurumi is a Japanese term which combines the words for “knitting” and “stuffed doll”, though the projects are not knitted, nor always a doll. The designs are worked in circles, and involve a basic crochet stitch and lots of counting. The projects tend to be small and cute, though the Pokémon characters I made were neither, as well as a tad complicated.
When our second grandchild was expected, hubby and I picked up a charming Steiff toy while in Belgium. At the time we did not know the gender, so went with a lovely brown bunny. Eventually the kids found out a little girl was going to join their family, and I happily found a crochet pattern for a bunny blanket. Of course, that pattern was in very boring cream and tan, so I blithely decided to pick up (expensive) wool yarn in pink and brown, and figured I could crochet the blanket in time for her birth.
Ah, the joys of overestimating your talents. Who the heck knew crocheting a blanket involves a much harder set of techniques than my cute amigurumi Charmander dragon?! Just what the heck is a half treble crochet stitch?! How the hell do you carry two yarns, switching between them as you crochet? And why in God’s name did I keep losing stitches? It soon became clear that dark brown was not going to work for the bunnies – since you carry it throughout the pattern, the darn brown showed between the pink stitches. Back to the yarn shop. $40 later I now have a cream yarn for said bunnies, and am back at the beginning.
Not that I’m under the gun or anything, but lovely granddaughter was born on Wednesday, and I am heading back to spend a week playing with 3-year-old sister and getting as much infant snuggles as possible. With better yarn in hand, I sat in my usual “project” armchair in our bedroom and spent SIX HOURS trying to figure the damn pattern out. Lots of YouTube videos. In the end, I made ONE block (of 16) and managed to pinch a nerve in my leg, rendering my foot completely useless for walking. Good grief.
Yesterday I decided to mimic my mother, who always did her needlework while sitting in a small rocking chair. My entire life Mom used a rocking chair, and while her specific one is gone, I had begun “collecting” rockers during Covid. Odd choice, I admit, but the large loft in our barn was a perfect location for friends to meet “outdoors”, but under a roof, during the lockdown, and the local thrift shop sold rocking chairs for ridiculously cheap prices. Varying girlfriends would pick among the dozen or so chairs, and over the year or so we would meet for coffee and celebrations, rocking away our worries. One chair, a 1960s Danish Modern teak one created by Hans Olsen, cost me $10. It was so comfortable, and actually worth well over $2000, that I put it in our sitting room. After my foot recovered (but is still tender), I decided to set up production in Hans Olsen’s chair, complete with my mother’s very old needlepointed foot stool with the charming strawberries and her antique floor lamp.
I have managed to get my production down to 1.5 hours a block…and now have 4 complete. I am not optimistic that I will crank out 12 more before tomorrow’s trip back to the kids. So Mom’s wicker basket, filled with all the necessary yarns and tools, will come with. Hubby did ask last night why the heck I didn’t just make a quilt? Very good question.