Lessons from the past - the best teachers ever

As a young girl, I remember many cold, wintry evenings when my Mum would sit in front of the fire crocheting whilst watching TV. As she finished each round she would sift through the dozens of balls of brightly coloured wool in her basket, carefully selecting the next colour to add to her square. After many weeks of work she would have enough squares to piece together into a lovely warm blanket. She would crochet the squares together with black wool which made the bright colours pop - just the thing to brighten up a cold winter's day! I'm sure you know just the kind of rug I'm talking about.

My Grandma was a crocheter. She crocheted the most exquisite borders on linen table cloths and they were highly sought after and prized by all the women of the family. And it was Grandma who taught Mum how to crochet. I can clearly remember the day even though I was quite a young girl. She sat patiently with Mum as she taught her how to hold the hook and how to hold the wool over her finger to get even tension. She taught her how to chain and make some basic stitches. Mum learned quickly and she was soon making those pretty granny squares. She went on to make dozens of what we affectionately refer to in my family as "granny rugs". They were made of pure wool and they're warm and colourful. I still have the one she crocheted for me and it is still used and loved by all my children.

And yesterday, I spent the most wonderful day with my Mum whilst she passed on this wonderful skill to me. She taught me how to crochet - and whilst I didn't learn how to crochet a basic granny square, I did get the gist of how to crochet.

Excitement! Watching the pattern begin to formShowing me the basics

Getting the pattern going

My pattern ended up looking more like a frilly flower because I began experimenting before getting the basics but I was having so much fun. In the end neither of us know exactly what I did but now that I've got a bit of an idea of what to do I'm looking forward to start exploring some stitch names and patterns.

It was really special to have my Mum here to teach me - it is a moment I will treasure for a long time! And who knows, one day my girls might be interested in learning how to crochet and I hope that it is me who they come to when they want to learn how.

And whilst I might not aspire to make granny rugs, I certainly do hope to put my new found skill into practice on some smaller scale pieces soon.

Happy crafting!

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