Two sticks and a ball of yarn

Thinking back on the evolution of crafting in my life and the way it is intimately tied in to my life history, my family history, knitting in particular is the craft that started me off. One grandmother first taught me to knit when I was 6, the other finished the job when I was 12. At 6 I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world that grandma could knit and watch TV at the same time so I tried to mimic her [on my very first go at knitting, no less] and wound up with a messy wad of yarn and a lot of dropped stitches. I think she looked at it and laughed.

I have to say, I love the combination of textures in this photograph. I'll change my profile picture soon though! I'm sure you're getting tired of seeing this.

Years later after she had passed away, my dad's mother taught me to knit again, telling me stories of knitting in pre-WWII China along the way. How they used to frog last year's sweater for the yarn to make this year's sweater, how they used to knit in class under their desks and away from the teacher's watchful eye. And now I'm slowly spreading the crafting love to most friends I meet and connect with on that deeper level of friendship - knitting, crocheting, sewing - it doesn't really matter what, we can usually find some sort of craft to meet over.

*Lame-o confession of the day: text cross-posted, for the most part, to the SouleMama comments section, photo reused from several months ago. I'm on a shortage of new photo material, peeps.