NaMoCroMo - Day 3

Happy November 3rd! I've made it 1/10th of the way through November now! (No, I'm not counting.)

I really like today's motif, first row of it reminds me of a snowflake my grandma taught me to make when I was a little girl. I made so many of them...I believe my mom still has a whole box in our basement. You will probably see more motifs with similar double crochet clusters in the future :)

Writing about my Grandma in the above part inspired today's writings. If you've been following me for the last year, you know that my Grandma passed away very suddenly in March. Health problems had afflicted her for over 6 months leading up to her passing, but she was well enough to almost be going home in March.

Grandma was my crafting mentor. She had an interest in every craft on earth! She could sew, knit, crochet, needlepoint, the whole 9 yards. Although through our brief overlapping lifetimes, her efforts remained primarily in crochet. At the tender age of 5, she patiently and lovingly gave me my first crochet lesson. Thinking back, I can also remember the first lessons she gave me in how to read a pattern. I think I was probably 9 years old. I was staying overnight at her house and we made a turkey refrigerator magnet. Over the course of the last 10 years though, I think it has been lost.

After the lessons in reading patterns came my "Starting Period." Every time I'd come visit Grandma, a new project got started. Every time I went home with new yarn, I started a new project. The attention span I had at 10, 11 and 12 years old didn't really lend itself to the rather large number of projects started then, but I remember loving the idea of finishing them all! I would dream of wearing all these things that I'd made, and being complimented on how fashionable I looked, and being able to reply, "Thank you, I made it!"

Grandma and I - Age 2 (maybe?)

Is it hard to fathom that when Grandma passed so suddenly this March, that it made me sick to my stomach to crochet? Trying to crochet would make me cry. I just.couldn't.do.it. I began to wonder what would happen to my blog, my design business I'd been dreaming of for years. What would come of it all? I knew that if my Grandma were still here, she'd be telling me, "Chelsea, what are you doing?! Pick that hook up and get yourself going!" Like any grieving process, it took me about 6 months to be able to crochet pain-free again. I've been working full force again since September designing and starting to write on my blog again. Aren't you so happy?!

Hopefully that all makes some bits of sense, it feels good to talk about what my Grandma really meant to me and my crafting. I miss her incredibly much, but I know that she is in Heaven, free from her health problems! :)

Until Tomorrow!
Chelsea
P.S. I liked getting comments on yesterday's post!! Please please please please comment! It is so encouraging to know someone is reading what I have to say!