Labor of Love

My Grandma Stevens was a knitter and a crocheter.  I remember getting cable-knit cardigans from her that kept us warm all winter!!  She also crocheted a lovely blessing dress for Bonny when she was born - we treasure it still.  Phoebe wore it for her blessing - as did Agnes and Bonny's girls.

Years later, my mom came across the dress that Grandma had crocheted for me to be blessed in.  It looked pretty hammered - ripped, stained, and unraveling in places.  I was not to be thwarted, however, and made it a project to resurrect the dress!!  And resurrect it I did, as you can see from the photo below, of Eliza wearing the dress.  Hannah also wore it, as did Ida and others.

A few years ago, actually maybe 20, my mom gave me an old bedspread that Grandma had crocheted in the early 40's or late 30's.  It was ripped and stained also.  I remembered it being on my grandparents' bed and was pretty sure it was salvageable.  But I just put it away instead of getting right to work on it.

Recently I came across it again - and this time I got right to work.  The top photo shows me working on it Saturday night.  I have found a cleaners I trust, and I am taking it there tomorrow to get it cleaned.  I was at my mom's, and I would spread it out on the floor so we could spot the errors - as I did the big ones, the little ones sometimes got away from us!  It was fun to talk about Grandma Stevens and all the other projects she'd worked on over her many years as a wonderful needle woman.

Too bad I didn't get interested in crocheting myself until it was too late to have Grandma teach me anything about it.  I would have loved to discuss patterns and techniques with her.

But at least I learned to crochet!!