When I was young I always saw my grandma, Rosa Howell, crocheting. I watched as her hands would glide effortlessly, weaving the brightly colored yarn into hats, scarves, and blankets. I noticed that her face was serene as her hands moved steadily in a circle-like motion using each strand of yarn. Recently, I asked my grandma to teach me how to crochet. She taught me to start a chain and the way she taught it to me was simple and easy to understand. In time I asked her to teach me the next step and she helped me start it and how I should do it the right way. And now I’m starting a blanket and it’s going well. Sitting with my grandmother learning to crochet has been a wonderful opportunity to expand my creative nature and to bond with this wonderful woman.
At our last crochet “get together”, I took the chance to talk with my grandmother to learn about crocheting and about her life. As we spoke her hands move one hand moves with the crochet needle the offer holds the string of yarn working at the same time making the crochet fast and smooth. it truly amazes me when she crochets as she makes it look easy and fun and once you learn how to it truly is easy and fun.
Freeman: “Okay, Granny. What inspired you to do crochet?”
Howell: Well, when I was younger, I was living with my sister, and she did a lot of knitting and crochet.
Freeman: Who taught you how to crochet?
Howell: I was, like, self-taught.
Freeman: You learned from experience.
Howell: Yeah, and I looked at my sister, how she used to do it, and I caught on.
Freeman: What’s your favorite thing to make?
Howell: Hats and scarves.
Freeman: What advice would you give to a beginner who’s starting crochet?
Howell: First, start off with making just a scarf, because then all you have to do is just chain as many as you want for the length across, and you just do a double crochet.
Spending time with my grandmother crocheting helped me to realize a lot. My grandma is very creative and I get a lot of my creativity from her. When I was little she taught me how to make paper flowers and she would paint and color with me. From her I learned that when she was a kid her family home was built by hand by her dad and she lived there till she moved to New York. As we spoke about our family past I was surprised to learn that we are part Cherokee! My family has a rich story full of creative and industrious people. I guess that when we look closely and spend time with people there’s always something more to learn.
