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20-somethings are taking up grandma's hobbies

kenny

Super_Ideal_Rock
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My daughter's 7th and 8th grade students are into crocheting.
 
I learned to knit at 16. I still love it now that I'm in my 40's, and the knitting circle I joined in 2007 (via Ravelry) when I was trying to meet new people in my neighborhood brought some of my closest friends into my life, and the group still meets together on occasion to this day!
 
It’s me!!! I’m into baking, making food from scratch, gardening, and canning food!! I also know needle point and embroidery. I’m planning to take up pottery whenever I get free time!
 
It’s me!!! I’m into baking, making food from scratch, gardening, and canning food!! I also know needle point and embroidery. I’m planning to take up pottery whenever I get free time!

I took up pottery 11 years ago - it's my happy place. When I joined the class I reluctantly took a turn on the wheel (it was part of the instruction for that day) and I loved it. I mostly throw on the wheel with the occasional slab piece.

I also crochet, garden and make my own kombucha.
 
I took up pottery 11 years ago - it's my happy place. When I joined the class I reluctantly took a turn on the wheel (it was part of the instruction for that day) and I loved it. I mostly throw on the wheel with the occasional slab piece.

I also crochet, garden and make my own kombucha.

I can’t wait until I finish my second degree and have time to do my grandma hobbies again and enroll in a pottery class. And hey!! I used to brew my own kombucha as well!!
 
Crochet, yes!
I love it. I also love baking cakes and homemade pie crust. All taught to me by my grandmothers.
 
I love this. I wish I knew how to crochet.

My mom made beautiful needlework pieces that are framed. All my nieces and nephews have beautiful Christmas stockings, birth and marriage sampler’s. My brothers and I have marriage samplers. I have many of her pieces.

@Catmom makes BEAUTIFUL quilts. Please just give me a moment to brag about you here Catmom. You are so talented!
 
It’s good to know that some of the old skills are not being forgotten.
I can’t knit to save my life, but I can crochet and embroider.

My mother used to do smocking and tatting - anyone?
 
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...My mom made beautiful needlework pieces that are framed. ...

Unless "marriage sampler" is what the kids these days are calling "dating", I have no clue what that a marriage sampler is.

But instead of Google-ing the term, it may be nicer to please see some of your mom's examples.

And since it is a 'sampler', who is sampling what of whom?
Which is sampler, and which is being sampled, the woman or the man? (given it's from grandma's time, mind you)
 
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My recently deceased aunt was into plastic canvas needlepoint and as a consequence all the neighbors within a 10 mile radius of her house as well as every family member throughout the nation had plastic toilet paper and kleenex holders, trivets, placemats, coasters, key chains, and so much more usually in bright eye-watering colors. The kids in the neighborhood who are now adults and some of my cousins took up the hobby and it was a major topic of discussion at her funeral.
Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 4.57.13 PM.png
 
@kenny, A wedding sampler is a a piece of fabric with the couples full names and date of their wedding sew on it. There is a design around the edges. They are a framed picture when finished. They took my mom months to make when she was able to make them.
 
@kenny, A wedding sampler is a a piece of fabric with the couples full names and date of their wedding sew on it. There is a design around the edges. They are a framed picture when finished. They took my mom months to make when she was able to make them.

Thanks much! :)) :wavey:
 
It's funny, but I did many of those things in my 20's. Knit, crochet, baked bread, needlepoint, canning some things, but now that I'm old I don't do any of them. I was bored for a year as my then husband started med school and I waited a year to start my professional degree so that we'd both finish up at the same time. We were in a new city, I didn't know anyone, so I kept myself busy learning those types of things. Maybe I should start again, now that I'm retired! I think I still remember how to do most of them. Good projects for the winter.
 
My recently deceased aunt was into plastic canvas needlepoint and as a consequence all the neighbors within a 10 mile radius of her house as well as every family member throughout the nation had plastic toilet paper and kleenex holders, trivets, placemats, coasters, key chains, and so much more usually in bright eye-watering colors. The kids in the neighborhood who are now adults and some of my cousins took up the hobby and it was a major topic of discussion at her funeral.
Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 4.57.13 PM.png

Cause that's what they do in the 'Burgh.
Did you bring home the crocheted toilet paper covers with the little dolls inside?
 
Cause that's what they do in the 'Burgh.
Did you bring home the crocheted toilet paper covers with the little dolls inside?

I found one of those at an estate sale and gave it to someone for X-mas last year. She is displayed, in all her blue frilly crocheted finery, in a place of pride on the back of the guest room toilet. :lol:
 
I actually created the Worlds largest granny square though I haven’t got around to arranging the formal measuring, it’s a bit complicated.
It’s over 13 metres square.
IMG_6002.jpegIMG_6973.jpeg
 
I actually created the Worlds largest granny square though I haven’t got around to arranging the formal measuring, it’s a bit complicated.
It’s over 13 metres square.
IMG_6002.jpegIMG_6973.jpeg

LOVE it!
 
I actually created the Worlds largest granny square though I haven’t got around to arranging the formal measuring, it’s a bit complicated.
It’s over 13 metres square.
IMG_6002.jpegIMG_6973.jpeg

What are your plans for it?
 
Did you bring home the crocheted toilet paper covers with the little dolls inside?

I did not but I still have 40 yrs of stuff she made me tucked away.
 
My recently deceased aunt was into plastic canvas needlepoint and as a consequence all the neighbors within a 10 mile radius of her house as well as every family member throughout the nation had plastic toilet paper and kleenex holders, trivets, placemats, coasters, key chains, and so much more usually in bright eye-watering colors. The kids in the neighborhood who are now adults and some of my cousins took up the hobby and it was a major topic of discussion at her funeral.
Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 4.57.13 PM.png

God bless her.
 
A thousand apologies, but I the elephant in the room wants to konw
Aren't blankets for ....... uhm ....... warmth???
So what's the deal with all those large HOLES all over crocheted blankets?

Are these kind of blankets only for county fairs and walls, and not beds?
If beds, are they meant to be purely decorative during the day, but not functional at night?
Are they meant to let sweet little ole granny think she's still indispensable?
Are they blankets for when you don't really want or need a blanket?
Maybe they're "green" ... blankets because holes result in using fewer natural (sheep) resources, (or fewer oil wells, if synthetic yarn was used)?

Please don't shoot me.
Just asking.

Sorry granny ... but inquiring minds wanna know.
 
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A thousand apologies, but I the elephant in the room wants to konw
Aren't blankets for ....... uhm ....... warmth???
So what's the deal with all those large HOLES all over crocheted blankets?

Are these kind of blankets only for county fairs and walls, and not beds?
If beds, are they meant to be purely decorative during the day, but not functional at night?
Are they meant to let sweet little ole granny think she's still indispensable?
Are they blankets for when you don't really want or need a blanket?
Maybe they're "green" ... blankets because holes result in using fewer natural (sheep) resources, (or fewer oil wells, if synthetic yarn was used)?

Please don't shoot me.
Just asking.

Sorry granny ... but inquiring minds wanna know.

The traditional granny square is about 8 inches square and they would be sewn together to make a rectangle shape and then a few rows around the outside to give a nice finish. Yes, they are often “ornamental” on the bed or casually draped on a sofa. Traditionally a granny square rug would keep you snug and warm because of the love and time that went into it!
Crochet has lots of stitches and I’ve seen some astonishing 3 dimensional items, including wedding dresses.
Me, I’m a two trick pony as they say. I can do chain stitch and double crochet. Yay me. And I can do it around and around and around until the square is more than enormous. World’s biggest enormous in fact. It took a few years.
And I’ve since started another one, crochet is a zen activity for winter.
IMG_8730.jpeg
 
...Traditionally a granny square rug would keep you snug and warm because of the love and time that went into it! ...
Huh? 21.gif

I don't think that qualifies as a fact, ya know, all that annoying science & physics.
Sounds like another one of those feel-good, warm-fuzzy, made-up, faith-things.
But hey, Enjoy.

And now we can all stop wasting money paying to heat our homes when it's cold.
Grandma's holy blankets will keep us warm.
 
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A thousand apologies, but I the elephant in the room wants to konw
Aren't blankets for ....... uhm ....... warmth???
So what's the deal with all those large HOLES a

A crochet afghan or blanket will keep you warm, though perhaps not as warm as its knit or woven counterpart. A whole lot of other factors go into how much warmth would be provided, such as the materials used and the size of the stitches. You might want something other than crochet on a freezing night, or if you’re out in the wind, but in a room that’s merely chilly or a bit drafty, it would more than do the trick. It would be perfect if your partner prefers a slightly cooler house than you do!

In any event, @Bron357’s masterpiece is probably big enough yo wrap around either of us several times, so those little holes would not be an issue!
 
Blankets themselves don't generate or even have any warmth.
If the air in a closet is 62°F, the folded blanket itself in that closet is also at 62°F.
But when over, or around, our body, blankets just trap some of the warm air that constantly radiates from our bodies.

Some materials trap warm air better than others.
Wool is excellent because under a microscope you'll see a single hair of wool is not smooth, as are polyester fibers.
See pic below in which a hair of wool (far left) has many scales.
Each fibre of polyester (far right) is smooth.

21.jpg

Besides wool scales trapping more heat than a smooth synthetic fiber, the scales result in a much more chaotic jumble when many wool hairs are combined to make cloth that also lends to trapping air, warm air - even when wet.

But regardless of the type of yarn used holes are holes, and some heat that could have been trapped, escapes through holes woven, loomed or crocheted into fabric.
Fact.

It's not very warm and fuzzy and sentimental, like love from granny.
But a fact is just a fact, no implication, emotion or other baggage.

A crocheted blanket that is long enough to wrap around you several times certainly would keep one warmer than a shorter one, because the long one's holes will be be overlapped by hole-less areas of yarn.

But how many crocheted blankets are that long?

Yes Bron's is beautiful and grandmothers and hands-on hobbies are wonderful; I have some myself.
(Any why in the world do I feel obligated to defend myself by saying this? :doh:)
Should I apologize for responding to a non-fact with a fact?

I am attacking no poset here, or any of the world's grandmothers, or admirable artful hobbies.

But again, this quote from post #23 is untrue, "Traditionally a granny square rug would keep you snug and warm because of the love and time that went into it!"
Note it says "Traditionally a granny square rug", not one long enough to overlap several times around your body.

Just the facts, Ma'am.
 
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My daughter's 7th and 8th grade students are into crocheting.

i learnt to crochet at primary school, a liitle younger than your daughter
i tell you something, you never forget it, it takes about 5 min to get back into it 30 years latter or once her friends start having babies
 
Blankets themselves don't generate or even have any warmth.
If the air in a closet is 62°F, the folded blanket itself in that closet is also at 62°F.
But when over, or around, our body, blankets just trap some of the warm air that constantly radiates from our bodies.

Some materials trap warm air better than others.
Wool is excellent because under a microscope you'll see a single hair of wool is not smooth, as are polyester fibers.
See pic below in which a hair of wool (far left) has many scales.
Each fibre of polyester (far right) is smooth.

21.jpg

Besides wool scales trapping more heat than a smooth synthetic fiber, the scales result in a much more chaotic jumble when many wool hairs are combined to make cloth that also lends to trapping air, warm air - even when wet.

But regardless of the type of yarn used holes are holes, and some heat that could have been trapped, escapes through holes woven/crocheted into in any material blanket or otherwise.
Fact.
It's not very warm and fuzzy and sentimental, like love from granny.
A fact is just a fact, no implication, emotion or other baggage.

A crocheted blanket long enough to wrap around you several times certainly would keep one warmer than a shorter one, because the long one's holes are likely to be overlapped by hole-less areas of yarn.

But how many crocheted blankets are that long?

Yes Bron's is beautiful and grandmothers and hands-on hobbies are wonderful; I have some myself.
(Any why in the world do I feel obligated to defend myself by saying this? :doh:)
Should I apologize for responding to a non-fact with a fact?

I am attacking no poset here, or any of the world's grandmothers, or admirable artful hobbies.

But again, this quote from post #23 is untrue, "Traditionally a granny square rug would keep you snug and warm because of the love and time that went into it!"
Note it says "Traditionally a granny square rug", not one long enough to overlap several times around your body.

Just the facts, Ma'am.

your thinking too much Kenny.....
dont take the love out of the blanket
 
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