In August of 2014, I began work on a piece of crochet that I thought of as “narrative” crochet.
The purpose of the project was to document my maternal grandmother’s life. In nine panels composed of hundred of granny squares, I told the story of my grandmother’s life as seen through my eyes:
After finishing the project about my maternal grandmother, I wanted to make one about my paternal grandmother. This was complicated by the fact that she died 12 years before I was born, so I have no memories of her, just a few stories my father told me and what amounts to a handful of artifacts.
Here is how it looked last year when I realized that for the second year running, I was not going to finish it in time for the state fair deadline:
But like so many women before me, I will persist, and if you want to read about this crochet adventure, here are the blog post entries I have written about it in the order they were originally published.
August 2015
In which I make progress on my grandmother’s clock
Miss Nora Buchta of the Springfield Road
I get to work an exceedingly long to-do list
I make substantive progress on my 2015 North Carolina State Fair project
Another friend from 3rd grade comes to the Raleigh-Durham area
If at first you don’t succeed, figure it out
Riding the crochet struggle bus
I debark the struggle bus (for now)
September 2015
An essential tool in a crafter’s toolkit
In which I square-off six tumblers and find more artifacts
In which I press the pause button
In which I get going on some granny squares
In which I get very serious about granny squares
The last weekend of summer 2015
Desperately seeking yarn fairies to weave in ends
In which I start to panic just a little bit
October 2015
My mother and I embark on an unexpected adventure
Four days to the 2015 North Carolina State Fair deadline
In which I get a head start on my 2016 North Carolina State Fair project
The clock panel begins to come together
My 2016 state fair project progresses
July 2016
The eve of crochet season 2016
August 2016
The mystery of the missing weekend
Modest progress on the center panel
Squares, squares, and more squares
The last Thursday of August 2016
September 2016
Putting the crazy in crazy quilt
In which I almost get my groove
A practically perfect triangle
Thirteen days to the state fair deadline
Countdown to state fair project 2016
October 2016
The center panel and a bag-to-be
November 2016
My life in a crochet fairy tale
