Granny Crochet

I learned to crochet from my Grandma Adams when I was a young girl. She was my father's mother, not "Gramma" the painter whom I have written about previously. Grandma Adams was a very lovely lady too, also a farmer's wife in the midwest. She and my grandpa were Czech and lived in a Czech farming community in Ohio. Our family name wasn't originally "Adams" but that's the name the family chose when they immigrated in the early 1900's. Grandma's Czech name was Ludmilla, which I think is beautiful, but her Americanized name was Lillian. She got married to Grandpa young, and they had 12 children (my dad was #2). I think by the time I was a teen, I had forty-four first cousins. We didn't see them except for in the summers when we would drive up north from Florida to visit everyone.

Grandma gave me this very crochet needle when she taught me to crochet. I used to crochet all the time, rip it out, and crochet something else. I used to make funky amorphous shapes, like crochet banana covers! My Grandma made a baby blanket for each grandchild and greatgrandchild, and an afghan for each grandchild when they graduated from highschool, besides many other afghans for her children's families. A couple years ago, I really got into it again and made lots of ponchos, baby blankets and baby clothes. I recently got an undeniable crochet urge, and dug up a bunch of Lion Wool-ease from my stash and started this "Granny Square" afghan. Good to keep me from nibbling at my fingers when the tension is high at wrestling meets!