Rockin' and Stitchin'

I probably should be bothered by a common "grandma stereotype" - but I'm not. After all, that blissful rocking chair occupancy, the lap loaded with quilting-in-process, the milling about of multiple cats - really does describe what happens at this contented grandma's house. But there's another, more sentimental reason why I'm not offended. A warm childhood memory of mine is the picture of my own beloved maternal grandmother, rocking away, (knitting, not quilting), with her little dog, Tuffy, safely tucked alongside, like a snugly wrapped lap burrito. This welcoming oasis was a place of perpetual sunshine and warmth for me; I'd sit and babble about any old thing that crossed my mind - laughing, narrating, unburdening with abandon - because grandma absorbed every single word I said. She'd smile and nod and shift her ball of yarn and urge me to continue. At grandma's, I could never say or do anything wrong; in fact, I am certain that if anyone had dared make that suggestion, they'd be dismissed with a scowl so penetrating they'd flee the scene for fear of losing their soul.

Grandma has been knitting away, listening, and loving me from heaven for quite a few years. It's my turn now - to rock and stitch and collect cats - and do anything else I want in between. My favorite among those choices, of course, is hosting a place where grandchildren come for their own turn as the most important super star in the world - the place where a word like "naughty" doesn't exist - but descriptions like "precocious" and "ingenious" thrive, along with, "Isn't that just the most clever thing anyone has ever heard anywhere?" Those words rock away with contentment in the sun, under the warming quilt of a grandmother whose offspring, for yet another generation, are incapable of ever doing any wrong!

Yes, I did the make the wall hanging pictured above. Several years ago. It's a Lynette Jensen "Thimbleberries" pattern. I love her work. I bring this one out every autumn. Sometimes it hangs on the wall, other times it covers the kitchen table. There's a risk in doing that, though. Then it becomes more of a resting place for spare sets of paws, rather than one for place settings for people!



Oh my goodness! Look at that scrumptious pair of little fluff-muffins! I just wanna gobble 'em both right up!