This is a story of a lady that I had never met. I want to paint my own picture of what her craft world might have been. How did she come into my life? Well, I went to a house sale. The lady unfortunately had passed away and this man was selling her yarn. She was a little bit of a hoarder because she had, let’s say, 100+ bins of yarn. Yes, you are reading this correctly. I went to see what I could buy, but when you went through the bins (and they were not all out), I also saw some unfinished items.
I went to the sale with a friend of mine and she made a comment about how sad it was that there were a number of unfinished projects. We were admiring her work as we went through the bins. After thinking of that comment, I thought about my own projects and then when I was talking with her again, I said that if I was to suddenly pass away today or tomorrow that I would have a number of unfinished projects. That's when I thought of how I would like to think that this woman lived through her hobby.
She was in her 80's and you could just see by the number of bins of yarn and unfinished projects that she had a deep passion for the needle arts. Looking at her unfinished projects I could see that she focused on crocheting. I'd like to envision her sitting in her favorite chair and starting on one of those projects in hopes of giving it to her grandchild, a charity, or a gift for a baby shower that she never got to attend. I'd like to think of her opening her bins and searching for that certain color of yarn that she wanted to use. She used all acrylic yarns and mostly in the traditional baby colors, such as pink, sky blue, and white. But she did have some violet, medium blue and variegated colors. You could tell that she loved babies.
Of course she had enough yarn to open her own yarn shop, but I'd like to think of her getting excited to go to her local craft store to shop for yarn for a new project. Even though at home she had all the yarn she could ever use but that wouldn't stop her from going to the store yet again to pick up some of the same yarn. I want to think of her as happy and content at being over 80 years old and able to enjoy her passion and share it with others as her gifts spread across to the people she came in contact with.
Also, I'd like to think of the expression on the faces of the new mothers to be that received a gift from her. Or that new grandchild and in her case it could have been great grand or great-great grand that received that special gift from her. How pretty or handsome they must have looked in their new outfit or wrapped in their new beautiful handmade blanket. I'm sure many of her gifts made it to baby showers where that the mother got to her present and opened it – then the oohs and ahs started as they looked upon a baby gift made full of love. And I can just imagine how her face would light up with joy and how proud she must have felt. Her face would show the biggest smile as she recapped the hours she put into that gift just to be able to enjoy the appreciation and excitement from all in attendance.
The unfinished projects spoke out that she was really good at what she did and she took such care at how each one came out. Did she go by a pattern or was it from her head? We'll never know. She would have had lots of stories to share of all the years of joy she spent making little gifts of love for some special person in her life. Or maybe she did a lot of charity work for hospitals for the preemie babies.
All I know is that every time I use one of those skeins of yarn from that sale, I will think of her, even though I didn't know her. She was a fellow crafter and that commonality connects us as I continue where she left off using what she loved the most - her yarn.
As I thought about this lady, I thought about myself. What is my story? Well, no doubt the needle arts is my passion. I love teaching, I love working on my projects, I love yarn and everything else that goes with it. My story would show how much I love the needle arts. My passion would ooze out of each and every unfinished project. It would show that I ate, slept, and went everywhere with my needle arts as each recycled bag packed with a project would reveal. I loved to talk about what I wanted to make and I have enjoyed writing about it and uploading pictures of all my projects on flickr.com. And some of my UFO's that are still UFO's I'm proud of because I learned from them and I always have that 'one day' they will be finished in my plans. I've accepted who I am and what I love even though I can be a little crazy about it. But I compare it with all the other types of passions out there. If it is your passion, you live it as fully as you can. And if I was to pick one thing to be passionate, crazy, and addictive to I would choose my needle arts.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I know you can relate. So what would your story be? Send me a comment or write me an email. I would love to hear your story also.
Have a great day.
© 2010
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I love this post! I went to a sale for the wife of our Parish Organist who had terminal brain cancer. This sale was a quiet affair as the owner was still alive and visiting with people as they came by, sort of a Good-bye Party for Connie. Connie's preferred craft was quilting and she was a true artist. In her quilting room she had projects already to start and some in progress. As I stood there looking into this woman's private life I came to tears as I realized in a few short decades (I hope) someone would be looking into my craft stashes and wonder what was I was thinking with all that fabric, thread and yarn?! So I chose a quilt project that had all the squares sewn together but still needed to be put together with strips and made into a quilt. The colors were something I thought my daughter would appreciate. So I bought it and a few tools I could use and then I said good-bye to Connie. I told her I marveled at her exquisite choices and the quilts I saw she had completed and those still to finish. And I made a promise to Connie and myself, that I would finish this quilt and give to my daughter, along with this story and that her legacy would live on with all the projects her friends and families bought. That was the last time I saw Connie and when I go into my stash to begin a new project I remember that feeling and try to finish each piece before beginning another. My daughter started college this fall and I intend to begin work on her quilt and finish it before she graduates in 2014 or 2015. Thank you for your post, it was wonderful.
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