Sharing your free crochet patterns and passing on those beautiful and vintage crochet patterns can create many wonderful family memories and ensure the beauty you create is cherished throughout the years. Your legacy is important and crocheted gifts leave your mark well after you've gone. Don't wait until it's too late.
When I was young, my Grandma always had her variety of crochet hooks, a basket full of skeins of yarn, and many crochet patterns. Everyone in the family had at least one crocheted afghan for their bed, couches or baby blanket.
I'd watch her sit there, quietly pulling thread after thread with crochet patterns that seemed to appear like magic. I'd be appalled to see her occasionally pull out what seemed like miles of yarn when accidentally missing a stitch somewhere (even though I could never see it).
I remember the first time she presented me with my first set of crochet hooks in a little leather pouch and a whole ball of yarn just for me. She patiently showed me how to single crochet, then double crochet. I was 8 and thought my raggedy bit of crocheted "blanket" was pretty fancy (it was atrocious, but she still seemed so proud). How did she make every stitch look exactly the same? For years, my Grandma gave us all beautiful hand-made crocheted blankets, shawls and scarves.
Then, at 16, I spent the summer with her. Again, she gave me a set of crochet needles in a neat leather pouch, and let me choose my own skeins of yarn...just enough for an afghan. With some careful instructions, I learned to crochet.
All summer long, I worked on my multi-colored afghan with a zigzag pattern. One end of the blanket always seemed wider than the other, and places where it should have zigged, I think it rather zagged.
Kindly, my Grandma who seemed very impressed with my work, offered to just "finish it up" for me while I went home and back to high school. I took my hooks and continued to crochet every bit of yarn I could get my hands on. That Christmas, when Grandma came down to visit, she presented me with "my" crocheted afghan that "I" took full credit for creating. Funny how all the odd lines and zags that should've zigged, seemed to have vanished, and what I had was a beautifully patterned, crocheted afghan that I still have to this day. Looking back, I know that my Grandma lovingly pulled out all those crazy threads and zig-zags, and had re-crocheted every single stitch perfectly, just so I could show off "my" very own, hand-made crocheted afghan.
I lost my Grandma a few years ago when she died suddenly of kidney failure. My heart still aches and I cry every day still missing her. But what I do have are the memories we created together, and that multi-colored zigzag patterned crocheted afghan, knowing that her wonderful hands, caringly and lovingly touched every single thread. I still run my fingers over that afghan, hold it close, and remember that wonderful summer with my Grandma when she taught me how to crochet.
