Not your grandma's crochet??

[kellyrox]

I was looking through crochet/knitting books this weekend at the bookstore, and I was kind of amazed at how many titles included something around the lines of "Not your grandma's crochet!" I thought it was so weird, why would my grandma's crochet be so bad? When I started getting really into crochet about a year and a half ago, (*newbie alert*) , my mother gave me a little bag of my great grandma's crochet hooks! I was so excited, some of the hooks had dates on them before my grandma was born. My favorite of all was this teeny hook, that was nearly bent in half. It was metal, and I couldn't bend it any further at all. It was really amazing to think of my tiny great grandmother, who wasn't even five feet tall, crocheting so much she warped this tough metal so much!

Anyhow, *end rant*, isn't it a bit strange to not want to associate so much with "your grandma", like these books say? I'm pretty proud to be doing something my great grandma did! Also, Did any of you "inherit" any crochet items?

~Kelly

[snugsmontreal]

inherit not so much...stole yes haha. my grandmother was still alive and is the one who taught me to crochet and i would use her supplies and always end up taking them home where they would be lost or in some otherway misplaced and never returned... when i moved out i found about 4 G hooks and 5-6 I hooks 90% of which i am sure were my grandmas. i even have one hook i got from her with a price stamped in the metal ".29c" so cool not they are like 1.29

[kellyrox]

Hehe Snug, I do that to my mom too! I'm always saying "Oh can I borrow this?" or sometimes not even asking. >_> She doesn't mind as long as I come visit her and bring her something back once in awhile.

[lhasaapsolady]

Unfortunately I grew up without a grammy, the only 1 I had died when I was 5, although I did have a great grammy. My great aunt was the wonderful loving lady who taught me to crochet. She is 89 and has given me her doily hooks, which she had for many years, her other boye hooks went to my daughter.

[amdm]

Both my grandmothers were superb needlewomen, and very willing to pass on their craft. I have wonderfully smooth bone hooks, indestructible steel knitting needles, sewing needles, and thimbles, all given to me by them. Because of this I feel they are still part of my daily life. I also have some fascinating pattern books, though only one of them is crochet. They were not very dependent on patterns, being able to make up their own. or copy one just by looking at it. I cherish my memories of these wonderful women, and appreciate the skills they taught me even more than the jewellery they left me.

[Carol]

I'm also very tired of hearing that old, worn phrase. In our family, "Grandma" would be my mom, who makes beautiful doilies, table runners and huge tablecloths. I only wish I could crochet as well as she does. In that sense, my crocheting truly isn't "your grandma's crocheting," since I don't do it anywhere near as well or as beautifully as she does.

[kellyrox]

Carol, I totally agree. I would like to find a book of "Crochet as good as your grandma!" My mom is also an excellent crochet-er, though I recently turned her on to knitting, and she's whupping my butt at it too. I hope one day in the future, some young 'un will be jealous of *my* skills.

[Mommy2Max]

My grandmother used to crochet beautifully, particularly thread crochet, and suffered a stroke last year and is now in a nursing home. Now she can yarn crochet, but she doesn't have the dexterity in her hands to do thread crochet any longer.

 

When my dad, his siblings, and cousins got married back 20++ years ago, they had an aunt who would crochet a tablecloth and give to each bride as a wedding gift. My mom still has hers after 32 years of marriage and it is simply gorgeous. Since the aunt who makes them is no longer alive, I asked my grandmother to make me one. She gave it to me two years ago for Christmas right after my husband and I got engaged and it is one of my most treasured possessions. At the time, she said it was such a tedious project that she swore she'd never make another.... little did she know that, sadly, she'd be UNABLE to make another one.

 

Because it had become sort of a family tradition, I thought it was sad that my sister would never get one, so the tablecloth that I'm working on right now will be hers if I ever finish it.

 

Before her stroke, my grandmother and I LOVED to talk about crochet and share patterns, because I'm the only one in the family who ever really took an interest. This past Christmas, I made an afghan for her in her favorite colors and gave it to her. She can't really speak, but when she opened that afghan, she burst into tears and refused to put it back in the bag so she could open her other gifts! Now every time I go to visit her in the nursing home, she's got that afghan on her lap and she shows it to everyone who comes by!

 

I would consider it the HIGHEST of compliments for someone to say I "crochet like a grandma." If my own grandmother is any indication, I would be proud to be in such good company!

[jap]

My Mom had purchased many vintage pattern books and had made many beautiful items out of them when i was a kid. She made very beautiful floral doilies. She would always change the colors of the flowers to match the decor of the room. Unfortunately, everything she made and all of her patterns are gone. I have been lucky and found some of her best vintage floral doilie patterns on the internet. And have remade them myself, to remember her by.

[Crafty_Mel]

Did any of you "inherit" any crochet items?

 

Oh I wish but when My Granny passed away my Aunts faught over her things and they threw out whatever they didn't want really sad

[eurolyons]

I am extremely tired of "Not your mom's or grandma's crochet?" (or anything like that...first time I heard something similar had to do with Buick's...I understand the original meaning was to be that the item in question was new, but after a while, it just sounds like the messager is dissing the past...

 

I personally like vintage crocheting from the turn of the century (1800-1900) and the 40's and 50's...and the latter would have been when my grandmother would have crocheted the most. She's the one that taught me how to crochet. My aunt is 20 years older than me and she gave me a ton of books that she's collected from the 50's...most of it thread crochet...which is one of my favorite types of crocheting to do.

 

So in short, if it wasn't for my grandmother to begin with, who knows if I would have ever learned to crochet in the first place...maybe, maybe not.

[01buckler15]

I didn't inherit any supplies. My great grandma made me a special baby blanket. Through moving every year, I managed to keep it with me until I was 12. Then my mom put it in the storage room and lost everything in it because she didn't pay. I was so mad! It was my favorite. Pink on one side and blue on the other. Every since I got back into crocheting, I have been looking for a pattern for it. I found a blanket that used the same pattern for sale on eBay, and I bought it . But that still leaves me with no pattern. I want to make one for my next baby in the same colors mine was and with baby soft yarn. I miss mine. I'm not able to look at it and know what they did. I haven't been doing it long enough.

[redbird51]

my granny taught me to crochet, too. i did some when i was younger, back in high school. we got into making purses and stuff. she helped me and my best friend finish them up. she taught herself to read patterns and could make almost anything by just looking at it. she did both thread and yarn and loved wild colors. she was a pretty cool grandma.

 

i inherited several of her hooks, some unfinished and finished pieces. i also got her sewing box and her button box. they're some of my favorite things.

 

i wish she were here now so we could share. i was watching hgtv and diy the other day and thought how she would have loved these tv programs.

she would have also loved michaels and ac moore stores.

[MagdaJane]

The whole "not your Grandma's crochet" thing irks me, too. I'm a new crocheter, for some reason couldn't learn to crochet to save my life even though I'm an advanced knitter. What made me finally just sit down and learn how to crochet was looking at the afghan I've had since I was little, this sunny yellow shell-stitch thing my grandmother made me that I've been madly in love with ever since I got it.

 

Sure, it's just acrylic yarn and, yeah, my Grandma wasn't a rock star, but I've had that afghan for 25 years, now, and I don't see how crocheting like that, how my grandmother did, could ever be a bad thing.

[Mermaiden]

Well.... yes and no. I am pretty new to crocheting and I'm 30 and I never had anyone to inherit crochet from, so maybe that makes some difference for me. I did have an older neighbor who used to crochet (I now have an afghan she made when I was young, before she died - it's a little like inheriting a grandma's item for me), but I never picked it up from her. So yes in some ways, it can kinda sad that the idea of crochet is not the same as the time-honored handed-down tradition.

 

But no in some ways. I DO think that crochet has taken on a new face because of the changes in it from the past. Crocheting with yarn, for one, gives it so much more versatility and unique possibilities that many folks who hear the word "crochet" don't even think of! You know it's true - you say "I crochet!" and they think "...doilies." Not that there's anything wrong with doilies. but there's so much more out there to crochet now! There are so many "hip" things that give crochet a new definition and this is where I feel the "Not your mama's / grandma's crochet" is totally appropriate and a good idea.

 

Crochet's "roots" so to speak are of course from the old traditional days of steel hooks and thread. That won't ever change. But for me, crochet is indeed NOT my mama's (neighbor's? lol) crochet. hee Without all the new stuff, I would never have been interested in crocheting at all. I was, in fact, totally against learning until I began to see more and more of the gorgeous things that crochet could produce. Then I was hopelessly hooked....

[Carol]

...Because it had become sort of a family tradition, I thought it was sad that my sister would never get one, so the tablecloth that I'm working on right now will be hers if I ever finish it....

 

What a lovely thing to do, mommy2max. I wish I could be there when you present it to her...