Baba, my father's mother, crocheted. She was a good cook, a gardener in her younger days. But above all she crocheted. Her house was full of doilies, placemats and table runners she crocheted. She made vestments and altar cloths for her church and laundered them each week. Her children's baby bonnets, baptismal robes and her own clothes were decorated with her lace. When her vision faded enough so that she could no longer crochet lace she made afghans.
She was a small woman, just over five feet tall in her youth and far shorter late in life. When she met my husband, then boyfriend, at my sister's wedding she was too frail to stand much. He was just shy of 6'6". She must have thought she was looking at a tree. Later Baba asked my father if we were serious and he told her we were. She returned home and began the afghan that was her wedding present to us a year later. It was well over eleven feet long before it was blocked. It's still almost eight feet long and the only snuggly thing we've ever had that covered either my husband or son head to toe. They adore it.
This is part of a piece she made to hang in a doorway. I was able to have it framed by wrapping it around an acid free mat.
Anna Pereksta, Framed needlework, date unknown. Digital Image. Privately held by Nolichucky Roots [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], 2007.
