Thank you Grandma Dunn

(Disclaimer: I think it's odd that just as I say I'm not that crafty I turn around and do several crafty things all at once. If you knew how many crafty things I attempted and totally fail at then these would not seem nearly as cool.)

My grandma Dunn taught me to crochet when I was little. Actually it was not as much as she taught me one time as it was multiple times over my childhood and youth. My grandma and I were a lot alike in a lot of ways and sometimes (okay...lets be honest here) most of the time this made us really but heads. I got in some pretty good scuffles with my grandma. We are both strong willed, opinionated, and passionate. I find that these qualities are some of the things that I like most about myself. In the right situations they become incredible blessings and strengths, in the wrong situations they are my downfall. Now that she is gone, I see much of my time with my grandma as serving to teach me how to control these characteristics. I'm grateful to her for that and many many other things.So she taught me lots of things now that I think of it and crocheting is one of the things I love the most. It's been a huge source of comfort to me. I find the repetitiveness of it soothing and it calms me down when I'm stressed out. I crocheted a lot after we lost Rebecca Ann. I started an afghan for her when I found out we were pregnant and I finished it a year later when I was finally able to come to terms with our loss. Now that we have Oliver I find all sorts of joy in in crocheting things for him to wear. Hats are my new obsession (probably because he lacks the muscle control to pull them off still).

My "supposed to be a monkey but looks more like a bear" hat

Since Oliver was born I've felt the loss of my Grandma a lot. I find myself thinking about her often. She was the last of my 4 grandparents to pass away and I so wish that they all could have spent time with Oliver. I had the unique experience of being at the passing, or one of the first people to come after the passing, of my other three grandparents. I got word that my grandma Dunn passed away almost a full day after the fact and was several states away. It seemed like something was missing, not only to not be able to be there but to not have another grandparent left to comfort. Now that she's gone I feel all the more desire to recreate the craft she was so passionate about. It keeps me connected to her in a way that I think we missed out on sometimes while she was living. I can't help but think about how happy it would have made her to see her great-grand child sporting all sorts of crocheted paraphernalia that she taught me how to make.

I think he was Blitzen in this photo

I made this for my friend's little girl...Oliver was kind enough to be the model but asked that I didn't post any pictures of him in it, as it might threaten his manhood. ;)