Atlas Insider
The Craft of a Life
I always feel the most grounded in the first two weeks of June. Filled with a sort of sweet nostalgia that’s pleasantly heavy. Maybe it’s the thick blanket of heat or the turning of an age or something else entirely. No matter the reason, it feels like a really good time to tell you about my grandmother.
Her name is Virginia Ann, but I have never called her anything but one name: Ita (ee-ta). Her desire to be called abuelita was always going to lose in the fight with a toddler’s hard-headed will and early stage language development. So, Ita it was, and always will be.
This year Ita moved out of her home of 50+ years. The Herculean task of clearing a home of fifty years worth of treasures, trinkets, and life was left to us, her family.
This includes, but is not limited to: a room full of yarn. Carefully sorted and labeled by color, variegated or not, exotic pinks or non-exotic blues, accompanied by boxes of finished and unfinished projects, ideas for projects, hooks and needles, and whatever else you need over a lifetime of crafting. Careful not to step on a bottle of Aleene’s Tacky Glue!
This is where I tell you that Ita is not a knitter—gasp—but instead a prolific crocheter. Although, while sorting through the “Work Room,” as we like to call it, I found a few knitterly items. Like a half-knit sweater, circular needles (still in the original package!), and project labels. (Who’s Nannie? We don’t know!)
I’ve always thought of Ita’s house as a little museum of her storied life—the most important of the relics being the ones she made herself. Now getting to see it all at once, I am struck with the truth that Ita is not just a crocheter, painter, paper-mache-r but an artist. An artist who carefully tells the story of her life with her hands.
Aren’t we all working on a thesis of life that says This Is Who I Am? And as crafters, isn’t it so often a collection of things made by hand that will tell the story of our life when we, inevitably, can no longer tell it ourselves?
So the story of Ita’s life so far is this:
A room full of yarn leftover from afghans that cover the arms of couches in many friends’ and family members’ homes.
Big and small paper mache angels that bring her presence into every room.
A baby hat and blanket that was too late for the youngest grandchild, but (one day) will be right on time for a great-grandchild.
“Giraffe eggs” just for fun.
A tree of life inspired by time spent in Mexico.
A hat for a daughter.
Isn’t it beautiful that a collection of craft supplies can tell the story of a life?
And isn’t it even more beautiful that I learned how to craft the story of my life from the way she has crafted hers?
Blessed be those who craft, and teach the craft of life.
PS: When I visited her last, she told me to bring the afghan she was working on the next time I came. Yes, you can have a WIP at 95 years old!
Lovely! ❤️
Such beautifully written tribute to your grandma! Thank you.
This is lovely — it turns the usual lament about stuff left behind into the story of a lovingly crafted life and all that can mean.
Lovely.
I sit on the other side of the world having started crafting after a pause of about 40 years. The pause was to have kids and a career. I bear the same name Virginia Ann, so feel connected to your Ita and the many crafters of the world.
I’m so glad you’re back to crafting Virginia! Thank you for the kind words.
Such a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing.
What a beautiful tribute! Thank you for sharing this!
What a beautiful story. So glad you saw the value in her artists’s life rather than a room filled with junk. And yes I also hope to have a WIP at 95.
Thank you for sharing, Emily! I enjoyed a chance to meet Virginia Ann through her crafting history while also appreciating the universal experiences also described. Such a well-written piece!…. and , as a giraffe-lover, I really really love the eggs!
A lady who answers the call to leave it better than you find it. Inspiring ✍️.
A beautiful, beautiful tribute to the life of and love of your grandmother. As a grandmother myself, I look around my “craft” room filled with my stash of yarn, embroidery and sewing supplies, paper and WIP scrapbooks and feel this need to hurry to complete. Reading your words gives me the perspective that what doesn’t get completed or used might just be the source of inspiration or even a gift to a future crafter. Thank you for sharing her story.
I am getting to finish some of her embroidery projects and it feels really special. So you’re right, it will be a gift to a future crafter!
Welcome, Emily!! I love this homage to your grandmother and crafting. She is an artist! My grandmother, a knitter, died a few months shy of her 100th birthday. How I wish I had been knitting at the time. Oh, to have a pair of her pins!
And I love this: “Yes, you can have a WIP at 95 years old!” A new knitting goal!
Thank you for the kind words, Kathleen!
I love this! My Gran had a similar legacy.
Beautiful! I feel a little better about my “workroom” now
Delightful! Yes a “storied life of crafting”. Thank-you for sharing.
A wonderful story Emily!
A beautiful story. After my mother-in-law passed away and father-in-law was living in assisted living, we started on the house they had lived in since 1963. Since he wasn’t keen on selling the house or getting rid of his possessions, we began our work in her “sewing room”. Some things were garbage (why did you save the felt that was all cut up already, Jo?). Some things were treasures. If she liked a design, she bought it, the fabric to stitch on and all the threads. Ready-made kits! I took most of her unfinished canvas thread works. I learned really fast how to do it and I am happy to say I am on the last one (unless my sister-in-law has a couple squirreled away). Enjoy your treasure hunt.
I really relate to the “Why did you save the felt that was all cut up already!” Ita saved every bit and bob just in case she could use it for a future project—and she often did! I love that you have worked through her embroidery projects, so special.
What a beautiful testament to a well lived life! My grandmother was and is, my teacher, inspiration and the most influential person in my life! I too have some treasured memories as well as the knitted, crochet, crafted, and quilted things she either gifted or left behind for me. I miss her every day, but she lives in my heart and every creation she gave me the skills to make!
I feel the exact same Terri! She taught me so much about crafting and making, and she will always be with me because of that.
What a legacy
Welcome to the MDK clan, Emily!! Great job at NashFest.
What a wonderful Ita you have and what wonderful gifts she has passed to you. She will be with you forever.
Thanks, Jan! There’s lots of fun in the works for NYF 2026, but more on that later! Ita has given me many wonderful gifts, you are right.
If you need a home for all that crafting material, please send to Ebb and Flow, a craft thrift shop in Blue Hill, Maine. The owner of the shop, Sofina Paz, will be delighted. And if you are anywhere near mid-Coast Maine, VISIT THIS SHOP! Full of tool, antique textiles, sewing boxes, fabric and yarn!
Thank you for this tip Elizabeth!
Thank you Elizabeth, for this suggestion! I am working on downsizing my craft supplies and thought I was going to just throw stuff out. I would much rather donate my treasures.
What a sweet story. How fortunate you and your Ita are to have one another. I always feel sad when I see a pile of yarn and half finished projects at a Goodwill.
My wife’s best friend forwarded your touching story as I am sorting her “sewing room” and finding homes for the treasures she amassed over her 70 years and 50+ years of doing things “for the fun of it”. Our textile artist flowed through multiple interests and was intrigued by each. Some persisted but she was always thrilled by creative pursuits until early onset dementia robbed her and everyone in her orbit. Hats off to the “crafters” of the world and the joy they bring while following passion. Thank you for the lovely reminder.
Lynn, this is so sweet. I feel the same about Ita—she brought so much joy to everyone through her many interests!
Finding the daily inspiration to create is a life lived well.
Enjoyed your story and photos so much. Right now I am putting my mother’s needlework room back together after painting. A library of hundreds of magazines and books on knitting, crochet, needlepoint not to mention dozens of half completed knitting and crochet projects still on the needles. And more yarn and pearl cotton than some shops carry. I inherited all of this after she passed away. The stacks of beautiful crochet tablecloths and unfinished knitting projects tell a story. Thank you for sharing yours…
It’s a hard but beautiful job stuff to sort through a crafters room! How lucky are we to be the ones to do it!
I love this.
A Tree of Life made by Ita is amazing! I love those too and finally bought one on our last trip to Mexico. Well done all around Ita! Thanks for this story.
What a wonderful story Emily! Many thanks for sharing it with us.
Blessed are those whose life and creativity was allowed to continue and grow peacefully like a calm river meandering through the craft’s various aspects. Undisturbed by disruptions brought by major upheavals, like wars or natural disasters that bring sudden destruction to everything that one cherishes or that would mark one’s creative endeavours.
Thank you Emily. Grandmas are to be cherished. Grandpas too.
When we cleaned out my mother-in-law’s house, all the half-finished quilts, crochet and knitting projects were in a trunk, and had obviously been projects that her friends or neighbors had bequeathed her. I donated most of it to Goodwill. In our knitting groups, I’ve heard from many women that they frequent Goodwill to pick up supplies that they re-use for their children’s or grandchildren’s school plays, etc. Or, there’s a project that they have in mind, but don’t want to spend so much in a retail store. I figured that the half-finished project will get finished – in some way or other – by someone who really needs the supplies. I hope my mother-in-law, and all her crafty friends and neighbors long-gone, marvel at the ingenuity of future generations.
This is lovely, Elizabeth. It’s hard to let it go, but it will be appreciated by another crafter and that is such a gift to someone!
What a lovely article. Your grandmother is very special. I hope my grandchildren have fun with my yarn stash one day. I really enjoyed reading this. thank you.
Lovely! And so wonderful that she has you to interpret what’s there.
What a beautiful article and a loving tribute to your Ita. I LOVE that she still has WIPs! I only have a few afghans and doilies from my Grandma who was a prolific crocheter. I cherish them and they will be given to my son and his family eventually. My grandma had a neighbor that worked in a yarn mill in Brooklyn way back when. That neighbor would bring my grandma all of the ends from the mill. She had all colors and all were wool. My grandma crocheted non-stop, never using a pattern for afghans, tablecloths, and baby sets. Such wonderful memories from wool and craft.
I love this Karen! Ita didn’t use a pattern for her afghans, either. She had a few books with different stitches that she worked from, but made it up as it felt right.
My Mom has been downsizing over the past few years, but she still has quilt WIP’s, and bought a new sewing machine 2 years ago as the old one was just worn out (it sewed many miles over it’s 20 year reign!). She is 96!
I love this! My mom is a quilter, so quilters have a special place in my heart.
This is magnificent! Full of love, “ordinary” life (that seems anything BUT ordinary), and heart. Thank you!!!
Beautifully written. I hope my grandkids feel the same way when they look through my crafting room someday.
What a beautiful tribute to Ita. If you have unfinished items and you are not able to complete them, please contact Loose Ends. They are a worldwide volunteer organization of over 30,000 people who finish virtually anything in the fiber craft world.
I had a complicated needlepoint canvas the was almost complete. My eyesight is no longer acute enough to finish it. I filled out a very short questionnaire and they paired me with a lovely woman who actually lived two blocks away.
It is now framed and hanging in my niece’s office.
What a Beautiful story of your grandmother!
I sit on the other side of the world having started crafting after a pause of about 40 years. The pause was to have kids and a career. I bear the same name Virginia Ann, so feel connected to your Ita and the many crafters of the world.
I’m so glad you’re back to crafting, Virginia! Thank you for the kind words.
I’m so glad you’re back to crafting Virginia! Thank you for the kind words.
A heart warming story. Thank you for sharing.
My mother told me that I should clean out her craft room after she died because my sister would not know what to do with everything in there. It was a huge project and i drove back home either several looms in my car to be donated to the local weavers guild as well as two sewing machines, two gallons (literally) of buttons and, of course, yarn. It was the last thing that I could do for her, and I was proud that I could do it right.
I love that she had you to care for her crafting supplies.
Beautifully written! I proudly display one of your Ita’s afghans on my sofa and it keeps me cozy on cold nights.
Thank you, Sara. I know she made that with love for you!
Your beautiful essay really struck a chord with me. Just this Saturday, I bound off a piece of knitting I found when I cleared out my mother’s basement when she, then 85, had to move to a nursing facility. I discovered it in a box of uncompleted needlework projects that my mom had saved when she cleared out her own mother’s house in 1990 or so. I don’t remember the piece I bound off–it’s a goldenrod yellow lace panel that’s the first section of an afghan kit–but I vividly recall my grandmother working in several other pieces I found in the same box. (I helped her choose colors for one of them. I must’ve been 6 or 7 at the time.) How’s that for (plied, acrylic) threads connecting the generations?!
I love this! I also remember helping with a few of the things we found tucked away. Such sweet memories!
This is so lovely. Thank you.