A gift from my Grandma

While I was home in Portland I decided to go through a trunk of stuff my Grandmother had left my dad when she passed away some 20 years ago (yeesh I can't believe it's been that long). I did this because when I got into knitting my dad had found a skein of yarn that my grandmother had and gave it to me. It's 500 yards of Royal Society Ever Sheen in a gorgeous cream color (I also think it must be a lace weight but I'm not positive). So in my mind I thought it would be perfect to make some heirloom lace shawl that could passed down from generation to generation. I wanted to make sure I had all of it as I thought it would be fantastic to make something like the Pi Shawl. But 500 yds isn't enough for something that big. So on 4th of July evening, before the fireworks, I went on a hunt through the trunk.

Can I just say how nice it was to be home for a holiday. Especially a holiday that is purely American. Having a barbeque with my family then watching the fireworks together was so much fun. It's great to not be the only one in a room celebrating a holiday.

Ok back on topic.

So we opened the trunk and found that my Grandmother really liked table cloths with matching napkins. There were seriously like 15 sets in there. Some of them even hand embroidered. There were some dresses and an old cub scouts uniform, a wallet and a kimono (very interesting) and some fabric just waiting to be made into a quilt. But no yarn.

Then my step-mom said "There's a smaller trunk that matches this one we should check that as well" So my dad found it and brought it over. Again no yarn but here is what I did find inside...

Knitting magazines!! From the 1950's! and two old crochet hooks.

In the pile are two magazines with baby patterns (they are adorable), one with sock patterns (even hunting socks!), one with women's clothes and one with men's sweaters. All the magazines are from Handknits by Beehive.

I was so excited! This was as good as finding yarn if not better! Old pattern books that my grandmother worked from and now I have them. I never knew that she was knitter before then. I knew she liked to crochet but the knitting was a surprise. Also I was quite young when she passed away and I just seems really special that we had this one thing in common and that some how, after all this time, she was able to give me something that I will always value and cherish.

My family on my dad's side has always been known for their ability to keep things long past their need. We're a family of stashers (In fact I'll remind my husband of that next time I buy more yarn)! But this is one time I will be forever grateful that we keep everything. Even if at one point it seemed to have no value it sure does have a lot of value to someone today.