Feelin’ Like your Grandma?

Why am I feeling like your grandma?  Well, not literally YOUR grandma, but more like nostalgic for the good ole days.  

Around Mother’s Day, my youngest asked me what kind of gift I wanted.  Feeling guilty for ALWAYS asking for yarn, I thought I’d change it up a bit and request some crochet thread.  When I opened my gift I was surprised (and really excited) to see that she had brought me two HUMONGOUS rolls of #10 Crochet thread – like Almost 5,000 yards worth!  It was around that time, also, that I was feeling nostalgic and thinking a lot about my mom.

We lost my mom when I was 18 but before she passed, she made three beautiful thread crochet tablecloths – one for me and each of my two sisters.  They took her forever.  So intricate and elegant and an amazing accomplishment given her severe rheumatoid arthritis.  I wanted to do something to honor her and here I had a truckload of #10 crochet thread and one Elizabeth Hiddleson pattern book that I had purchased years ago (when I was feeling the same mood, no doubt). 

So…  I went to work.  I made it through the first several rounds in a snap.  I thought, this is a cinch!

Then came the pineapples!!  Oh those dreadful, but beautiful and classic, but still dreadful, PINEAPPLES. 

Every time I thought I was getting close to finishing a row of pineapples, another row would start to grow.  Bigger and more beautiful than the last. 

I crocheted in the morning before work.  I crocheted sometimes at lunch.  I crocheted at night sitting in front of the tv.  Don’t do that, by the way.  There’s nothing worse than making it almost all the way around a HUGE circle just to realize you made a little mistake one row down.  And with this project, one tiny mistake will throw the whole thing out of whack.  Sort of like a little earthquake in the middle of the ocean can turn into a giant tsunami.

But finally, on a Monday night four months later, I finished it!  Right before my 21st wedding anniversary (my husband bought me a round display table, how did he know?)

I loved this project more than I thought I would.  It brought back many memories of my mom and made me feel close to her again.  I mentioned the piece my mom made so many years ago in a group and wouldn’t you know that someone there recognized it and led me to the source.  It is also an Elizabeth Hiddleson pattern.  So I bought it, and a bunch more and you know what I did?

I started another one!  And not just some random beautiful, elegant, classic tablecloth.  The one my mom made me.  Thirty years after her passing-to honor her. Love you mom!

I’m feelin’ the pineapples all over again!