channeling the elders

I have started to crochet. When I was younger and my Great Grandmother was alive she used to teach me how to do all kinds of different crafts. She was always making dolls, baking, knitting, sewing and crocheting. I remember her being so patient with me. If you had met her you would have loved her and I suspect you will see much of her presence in these blogs as I consider her to be one of the most amazing women I have ever been blessed to know. So back to crocheting. My mother and grandmother are also quite crafty and love to crochet, knit, sew and quilt. I figure there must be a gene for this talent and decided after years and years... like 20 or more, of being dormant, I would try again. My mother showed me the basics and sent me home with some yarn and a hook. I was crocheting away this evening when all these images popped into my head... my hands became my grandmother's hands. I could actually remember studying all three of the women I have mentioned as they crocheted. I could see them all so vividly wrapping the yarn around the hook and pulling it through. I didn't want to stop imagining it all. I could smell my grandmother's wood stove, I could hear my mom watching Oprah and I could see my great grandmother's eyes on me as she would speak to me all the while crocheting stitch after stitch with ease. Reality always seems to snap back in such an instant and it all melts away.