There’s a mall with a small Zellers Department Store not far from my house. Because I’ve frequented it often over the years, I’m quite familiar with the layout of the store and roughly what’s contained in each aisle. Several months ago, I ran into Zellers to buy a few things for the house. I rounded the corner from the aisle containing pillows and blankets into the next aisle, where I expected to find candles, vases, and home decor. But what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. The aisle had been transformed. From top to bottom, beginning to end, it was stocked full of colorful balls of yarn. I stood there gawking in amazement.
Now you may not think that there’s anything particularly unusual about a yarn aisle in a department store. But I was stunned. The reason I was stunned was that the womanly art of knitting and crocheting fell by the wayside a long time ago—along with the idea that the best place for a young wife and mom was in the home.
When I was a little girl, my Oma (granny) had taken me to the yarn aisle to pick out beautiful skeins for my next crocheting project. And although it was still possible to find yarn in craft stores, I hadn’t seen a shelf—let alone a whole aisle full—in a department store for what seemed like eons.
The feminist women-centered analysis (err . . . brainwashing) of the seventies and eighties had convinced women like me that womanly crafts like knitting and crocheting were trivial, if not borderline demeaning. We were taught that women should stop doing menial things for the home and devote our attention to things of serious importance—like developing a career and earning a lot of money. I hadn’t picked up a crochet hook in decades.
I was so overwhelmed by my thoughts that I stayed there in the yarn aisle for a while, pondering the cultural significance of it all. I ran my fingers over the skeins, feeling the thickness and texture of the strings. I studied the sizes and types of hooks and needles. I thought back to sitting at Oma’s feet, having her guide my clumsy young hands in basic crochet stitches. I thought of the pretty doilies she taught me to crochet and the sense of pride and accomplishment when my mom displayed my work on the living room coffee table.
I thought about the relaxed womanly camaraderie . . . a grandmother sitting for hours mentoring and training her young granddaughter in womanly arts. Things that she had learned from her grandmother. And she, from her grandmother before her. I thought about the whole concept of an older woman training a younger woman how to be a woman and how to pour herself into making a house a home. I thought about the admonition of Titus 2:3 for older women to teach younger women good and beautiful things. The sense of nostalgia that swept over me at that moment was profound. We women have lost so much.
I think that many women are beginning to feel the vacuum. They’re yearning for womanly things. That’s why a whole aisle of yarn has, after a 25 year absence, suddenly re-appeared at my local department store.
Inspired, I bought a ball of crochet thread and some hooks. I pulled out some old patterns I had kept stored in a box in my basement, and sat on the couch refreshing my memory on how to crochet. The next time I stayed with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Houston, I bought some bright pink, blue, and green skeins and large plastic hooks to teach my young niece how to crochet. We sat on the floor for a couple of hours as I guided her inexperienced hands in how to hook chains and do single crochets. We laughed together and worked together. When she was finished, she decorated her bed frame with bright, pretty crocheted flowers. I don’t know who was more proud.
What took place that day was a whole lot more valuable than a day at the office. It makes me think that our foremothers were a lot wiser than we gave them credit for. It is us—and not them—that have been deceived by an elaborate yarn.
Comments
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My own daughter learned at my knee. She baked pies, did cross stitch, learned verses but when she had grown and got into the world she abandoned it all and now her daughter has no interest in this. Alas they live far away so I can only show her once a year or so. She is interested in the results. We pick out fabric and patterns and sew new clothes for her but there is no interest in the skills. The grandchildren go home to video games and TV. Thankfully they do like to read so from a distance I can channel and sent uplifting books to them.
Thank you for this. Let us pray that our grandchildren will want to have a chance to learn from their grandmothers before no one remembers these skills.
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 7:59 am
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 9:00 am
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 10:48 am
One day my youngest daughter became interested in what my mom was crocheting. Momma taught her and she has made so many wonderful things. My sister struggled with cancer and she had the prettiest, soft hats to wear that covered her bald head, all made by my daughter. She has since died and her hats have been gifted to others with cancer. Anyway, one day when my daughter was about 10 (now 19) I asked her to show me how to crochet. So I learned the art of crocheting from my daughter. Now that was a blessing to me!!!
Good for all you grandma's and mom's who have taught your daughter/grand=daughters the art of being a woman. They are truly blessed.
Mary - Thank you for sharing such a beautiful story. I also could see exactly what you were looking at and understood all you said. We have lost so much in the past years. Do you suppose that can ever be regained?
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 11:08 am
If you walk into my house, you will find baskets of yarn scattered throughout. It's a bit unusual, I think, as most people probably do not decorate their homes in such a way.
I'm 39 years old and knit everywhere I go...at the orthodontist while waiting for my children, in hotels when we travel, and even on the soccer field! I can't tell you the number of looks and questions I get. Most people associate fiber arts with grandmothers.
That's when I show them my purse...knit and felted...the scarf I'm wearing, and even, if it's cold, the hat on my head.
A lot of what I make is given away. I recently became involved with the prayer shawl ministry at my church. We're just getting things set up, but I've made two shawls thus far. I sent one of them to an online friend whose husband is in the last stages of cancer.
Unfortunately, my daughter is not interested in taking up this art. Maybe one day.
I will say that I am so thankful that God can use my hands to bless others in this tangible way.
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 11:49 am
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 12:11 pm
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I crocheted baby afghans for my soroity sister's girls, they used them for their dolls, and then for their own children!
I now teach crochet in yarn shops. I still crochet gifts for family and friends. 1/08 I became a breast cancer survivor. I didn't have chemo, so I did not lose my hair (God allowed my cancer to be found in the very early stages through a routine mammogram). However, I now crochet chemo hats, shawls, etc. for my oncologist's office.
I have also crocheted the quadratic equation that a Phd figured out as a way to show her students a "handson" of this equation. She says that crochet is the only medium that works and preferably with acrylic yarn.
Crochet and knitting are supposed to help children with ADD, etc. to focus better. Some schools provide lessons to help their students.
I am thankful for my crochet heritage. I am happy that others are rediscovering the fiber arts.
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 3:38 pm
on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 11:28 pm
on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 2:05 am
I think knitting and crocheting are wonderful arts, though I don't do them myself...(maybe one day!).
Blessings to you Mary, and true women in Christ!
on Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 8:33 am