your grannie's crochet

[Knit Happens]

I see lots of articles and stuff about crochet being "not your grandma's crochet" and that sort of statement....as if it all should be modern and current...but I know myself and plenty of others who love the very nostalgic crochet of doilies, granny ghans, toilet roll covers, poodle covers and the like. Oh, and can't forget the groovy crochet of the late 60s and 70s. There is something heartwarming about them, and I like to make them and see them in my home. One of the ladies I recently taught to crochet finished her first item...a really nice tote bag for her yarn and hooks...and she was ready for her second project. I had given her some ideas, and I happened to bring with me as a "show and tell" a vintage toilet roll cover....and she said "I want to make THAT". A simple project, worked up very quickly, and she was so pleased with it, and her abilities. I just wanted to make a post giving a nod back to our ansisters (ancestors) who shared their love of crochet with us, and express my fondness for the projects of yesterday. go granny go!

[crochetqueen]

Actually if anyone has an older pattern, they wouldn't be saying that. I do have some older patterns (1894 and up) and I get a really big chuckle when I see "this isn't your Grandma's Crochet" because the truth is they were very sophisticated with patterns. Petticoats, bras, underwear, woolies, coats, gloves, afghans etc. were all made by hand out of necessity, which is why that very statement cracks me up. It IS our Grandma's crochet, if it weren't for them we would not have it One of these days I am going to scan in some of it just so people can see what a pattern use to look like, it might surprise you.

[Robyn]

When I was moving out of my mother's, I found all of my great-grandmother's crochet patterns and hooks. I was looking through the patterns, deciding which I wanted to keep and found that many of them were patterns I'd been seeing online written as "new".

[Real Deal]

Yeah ~ and exactly what is wrong with what my Grandmother crocheted? We loved the slippers, mittens and sweaters she made us, along with flannel jammies and nighties every year until I was in my mid 40's! And she always had beautiful afghans on her couch ~ and that's the couch she reupholstered by herself! She was quite the woman. Hooray for grannies!!!

[ladytoysdream]

Not your Grannie's crochet.....

I hear that or read that statement more and more......

and I don't find it true.....

In my case, I don't remember any of my grandparents crocheting or

knitting. My mom showed me how to knit, but I don't remember

her knitting herself. She mainly used the sewing machine, and that was

just to do mending. She did like to hook rugs from old clothing tore up

into strips. I liked that myself, and even tried making round rugs using baling twine. Before you ponder that last statement, I made so many of those rugs, I had to sell some of them. Made great entrance rugs to clean your shoes on. A bit hard on the hands though......that material was really course to work with.

When I go through my patterns, books, leaflets, etc, now- I find a lot of older stuff to drool on, and thinking of making as a future project.

Crocheting has been around for a long time, and will continue.

Whoever coined that phrase "not your grannie's crochet" did not really think it through.

[Addey]

A lot of the truly vintage patterns are so complex and beautiful. I personally don't think I could work with anything smaller than #10 thread... I personally am not too fond of some of the 60's and 70's stuff... maybe in "modern" colors, but I don't know. I wish I had more stuff that my Gram did, as far as I know, we only have the 5 stockings she made for our family. I do remember a very bright granny square afghan joined in black that I loved. It probably got given away in one of the moves she made.

[Momcrochets]

I think...I *hope*... they meant that crochet is not bulky and ugly...like some think it used to be...but look at the gorgeous doilies and other lacy things our grand's made! That Laura Ingalls Wilder doily was in size 30, it's gorgeous, and I want to make it. (But the link is broken, so I can't get the pattern. :hugs to the wonderful people working on that issue.) I have two TP dolls (covers) one for each bathroom, and I think they're cute.

Besides, who's to say what's ugly in crochet anyway, what I like, you may not...infact I guarantee some of the 'villagers don't like what I like. And that's a good thing. We're all unique, and crochet is broad enough to keep us ALL happy...now THAT's an accomplishment, n'est-ce pas?

[Granny Square]

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/completelist.htm

 

I have always been in awe at the skill and patience of our foremothers. I love looking through the above site (warning, large files if you have dialup).

 

My house is full of doilies and I'm proud of it! (although they are in size 10 thread not 70...) And, I have a harvest gold and avocado green granny square afghan, too! (in the closet... )

[faedragon]

No, this isn't my granny's crochet. No, I didn't "just love" the things she made. I crochet in spite of , not because, my grandmother crocheted. She would never even attempt to read a pattern( yes, she could read). she had no idea what the names of the stitches were, and she wasn't interested in learning them. so when she tried to teach me, she couldn't give any stitch a name. She couldn't tell me how to make something: didn't know what the stitches were, she could only show me. She made two types of afghans: ripple and granny square . It was required that the granny combinations be eye-jarring

[Knit Happens]

P.S. I didn't have a grandma (or granddad for that mattter) from either side...they passed away long before I was born. Wish I did have them tho. I think it was something I really missed out on. And as for my daughter....her dad's mom passed away when he was 17. I'm told she was lovely and we'd have been good friends. My daughter's grandpas passed away when she was just too young to really remember, and my mom passed away when she was six. Such a loss. Alas, "not your grandmas crochet" isn't taken literally, not for me...but I really do love what that generation, and those before, put together in crochet.

[darski]

Anyone who denigrates what our foremothers did has to be brain dead. Irish crochet is the most perfect craft in my way of thinking and it has been around for many a year.

 

I double dog dare those tyros who think they are being so "modern" to even attempt one jacket made in size 30 thread. Whey they can do that, then we'll talk.

[boswifedeb]

Some of the best patterns that I have ever had the priviledge of using were from the 1940's and earlier. They are soooo delicate and beautiful!!

[Elle]

Perhaps whoever uses the phrase "not your Granny's crochet" is just looking for a way to work that phrase into their article, since "not your [fill in the elderly relative's] [fill in whatever the topic is]" is such a popular advertising gimmick these days. If they were being honest, they would acknowledge that some vintage patterns are some of the most complex, beautiful patterns there are.

 

Elle

[Momcrochets]

I should probably add that my grandmums did some needlework. my maternal grandma does some embroidery...We recieved a lovely embroidered tablecloth as a wedding gift. My late paternal grandma, did a lot of knitting, my DD has in her closet a sweater "Nanny" knit for me when I was a girl. And it's still cute! (and for her first birthday, she wore a cute dress Nanny knit for me "way" back...and also adorable!) Neither of them crocheted...one of my aunts taught me. so the "not your grandmothers" isn't literal for me either. And I will always admire the gorgeous vintage work I come across.

[Kimblee]

Doillies are my great love.... I can;t make them, but I lust for them, and I FINALLY got up the nerve to try one last night. With Stepmama reading me the pattern (So I could focus on my tension) and a few rows pulled out.... i finished one.

 

Gimmie my grandmother's crochet over some of the butt-ugly monstrosities i see in catalogs lately. (I promise, oh little eggs in my belly, when a few of you become babies, I will NEVER put you in a crocheted banana shaped diaper cover! Nor will I traumatize you with a crocheted toilet paper cover including a random head poking out of the side.)

[CLLinda]

I loved my grandma's crochet. I still have a couple afghans from her, and find that there was nothing wrong with what they made in the 70's and 80's.

 

Crochet can be made the way you want it. Old fashioned or very modern. It's all what you want to do.

 

That's the beauty of crochet.

 

[Jaded Moon]

I love vintage crochet! Especially the doilies!

[Tiga]

I think "not your mama's/grannie's crochet" is code-word for "this is so fast and easy even you youth of today with the attention span of a gnat on speed can do it!"

 

It's an insult to both our ancestors, in that what they made is somehow unappealing for today and to young people today, in that they do not have the time or skill to make things with itty bitty hooks and thin thread or can't read complex patterns.

 

I swear, if I see one more pattern gears toward a hook larger than my forearm and yarn that could be used to tow a truck, I'll scream!

 

Those huge hooks, quick results patterns are giving crochet a B-A-D bad name again! Bulky is rarely beautiful and only occasionally funky-cool.

 

You know why those patterns aren't your momma's crochet? Because she wouldn't be caught dead in a shawl made out of super bulky RUG YARN!!! She may have made a hideous piece of macrame out of it, but that is a craft better left in the 70's. Well, the hideous parts of it, anyway.

[Blondie]

My Grandmother is the one who taught me to crochet, so if something is labled as "this is not your grandma's crochet, then I have no interest in doing it.

 

Back in the 70's I made a quick afghan using three strands of yarn and a hook, the forearm sized one , and it was one of, if not the ugliest, afghan I ever made, and never made another one. You just crocheted rows back and forth. Yuck!!

 

Give me my "grandma's crochet", and I will show you a work of art

[gardnr]

My grandma didn't crochet, but my great grannie did...without a pattern. Her work is still all over my mom's house and it is beautiful. Her work inspired my aunt as a young child and my aunt taught me when I was about 9 or 10. My aunt's work is amazing! When I met my husband as a teenager, his Nana also crocheted. She made beautiful doilies and afghans. I do take offense to the saying. I love and cherish the doilies and afghans that have been made for me. I have been really crocheting for about 4 or 5 years and thanks to technology I have been able to reproduce some of grannies crochet.

 

I think some people are ignorant to different forms of art. I believe that crochet is a form of art. If someone doesn't appreciate it, that is their problem...they won't be getting any of my nice warm afghans to snuggle up in anyway!

[Auntie Kellie]

I'll admit I love my grannie's crochet, although it was Nana who did the crocheting, granny just kept me in a good supply of homemade baked beans, scottish breads and fudge.

 

It was the constant supply of grannyghans, slippers, hats, mitts, scarves, and stuffies that made me want to learn how to crochet as a kid. As I got more involved with needle arts, I'd see all these complex lacy doilies and such from vintage magazines and history books and dream of the day I could be that good.

 

Hugs and Cookies

Auntie K

[cgd]

I think that whole catch-phrase of "not your [fill in ancestor here]'s" whatever started with an Oldsmobile ad campaign in the 1990s, the "not your father's Oldsmobile." And you see where they are now, discontinued from GM's line. I mean, the Cutlass ruled during the 70s!

 

Neither of my grandmothers crocheted, but they sewed and quilted out of necessity, and these quilts are still floating around at different family members' houses.

 

I agree about the vintage patterns. I figure if I work really hard at crochet for several years and get comfortable with thread, then I might, just might, attempt one of those. I do an "I'm-not-worthy" bow when I see those doilies, Irish lace, and other delicate, intricate works of art.

 

As for the 70s, some of that is coming back now. I didn't like all of it, but some of it was kind of neat. I did a giant granny afghan that turned out nice. I don't have the patience for joining many small squares.

 

Anyhow, I agree that I'd be tickled pink if I could make our foremothers' crochet!