We all have our crafty heroes don’t we? People who have inspired us to make things, or at the very least to TRY. My Nan is that person for me. She was either in the kitchen, hard at work or sitting with a crochet hook or knitting needles at the ready. She taught me to knit, but for some reason I never asked her to show me how to crochet when I was growing up. When I got a bit older, I decided to learn. I wanted to be more like my Nan (and my Mum!), all clever and hooky and woolly, so to speak. So learn I did. I learnt from Kirsty and YouTube. It was actually REALLY hard for me, but I stuck at it, determined to ‘get it’ no matter how tricky it seemed.
After a LOT of practice and some tears I DID get it. And now I can do it quite well. I like to teach other people to crochet now. People like ME who might not have learnt early on, but are completely and utterly attracted to the gorgeousness of crochet. The crochet tutorials I made for this blog are the busiest pages here, in fact.
Over the last year I’ve been picking up and putting down this blanket. It’s the Vintage Fan Ripple blanket found on Ravelry (which was originally inspired by this post.) Once I’d finished it, I just looked at it a lot. I wasn’t sure what to do with it… It was too nice to actually USE. I realised the very best thing would be to give it to someone who would use it and appreciate it. Someone who inspired it in the first place. Someone who made me want to make stuff from the very get-go.
So that’s what I did. I sent it to my Nan for her birthday. She opened it up yesterday and guess what? She super loved it! I chatted to her on the phone and she said it was really nice to get something handmade that she hadn’t had to make herself. And I said she’d made me SO MANY things over the years, it was time for me to step up and make her things now.
And that’s what I’m going to do. Every year a different birthday blanket. Until she’s totally the cosiest person in the universe. That sounds good, right?
Happy Birthday for yesterday Nan!
xx Pip
thanks pip! old post but I am starting this today 🙂