Creativity in my veins

Today being Mother's Day, I was reflecting about all the wonderful women who have fostered and nurtured creativity in my life. I have had so many great examples, and treasure troves of talent to explore.

I was born to crochet. I didn't know I had this particular talent until about 10 years ago. I have always been surrounded by crochet, but I never thought of doing it myself.

This is me and my great-grandma Wilde. I never really knew her, but she gave me the afghan pictured in the background. It is one giant granny square. I have many childhood memories with this afghan. It became everything from a shawl when playing dress up to part of an under-the-stairs fort. It was very well made, and it was never allowed outside, so it still looks really good. It is something I treasure because when I look at it, I feel connected to my great-grandma.

Satterthwaite great-grandparents and me.

My great-grandma Satterthwaite was amazing at crochet. She made countless afghans in her lifetime. She was so good that she could sit watching TV or carrying on a conversation and never look down at her hands while she worked. To raise funds for the new church building in Garden City, great-grandma Satterthwaite crocheted afghans to be auctioned off.

This afghan was made from yarn remnants of those donated afghans. I will keep this forever.

These are 2 more my grandma recently gave me.

My grandma Wilde, daughter of great-grandma Satterthwaite, inherited her mother's crochet ability. She has made at least one receiving blanket for each of her 24 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

                                                 

This is newborn me on my receiving blanket made by grandma Wilde.

And this is the afghan she made me for my college graduation.

With all this talent in my blood I still had no desire to crochet. Yet. A few years ago I bought a skein of yarn, a couple of crochet hooks and asked grandma Wilde if she could teach me crochet. We sat on the couch in her living room (I have the picture taken of us somewhere) with the yarn between us and she taught me the basic chain stitch, double crochet stitch and the importance of keeping the tension consistent. My first project started with tight little stitches and progressed to fewer, bigger stitches. While the tension and stitch count changed from beginning to the end, somehow the dimensions stayed pretty much the same. It doesn't look skewed in any way unless you start counting stitches.

I progressed to other stitch patterns and various yarn textures. I taught myself how to read patterns and began adapting them to fit my own projects. I now have more than a few scarves and plenty of throw blankets around the house to keep warm.

Not too long ago, my sister and I started our own handbag company. We embellish each bag to make them one of a kind. It didn't take long before crochet embellishments became a popular theme. And then we started making them from wool and felting them.

Crochet is a part of my heritage, and is very calming for me. I love to crochet. I am always coming up with new ideas and projects.

I am grateful for the women in my life and grateful for all they have taught me. 

Happy Mother's Day!