Memories in every stitch

I’ve written about the different places to which I take my crochet projects. The last few months I have been crocheting a lot with my father. No, he doesn’t crochet. At 94, he is getting less active and sleepier.  We sit together quite a bit when I can head south and be with him. He takes a lot of naps. Crocheting helps me stay quiet while he’s resting but still be present in the moment. At times,  I catch him with his eyes half open watching the motion of my hands, hook and yarn as I work.

The project I have been working on the last several trips has been a good source of conversation. It’s two yarns that change shades and are worked alternately into what will be a really long scarf; pointy on the ends and fat in the middle.  His memory is not so good any more and so we tend to have the same conversations, multiple times every visit.  Because the yarns used for this project change colors/shades and the scarf changes shape, he notices different things every time he looks at what I’m doing. So, new questions along with the ones already asked but still new because the project has changed. And since I’m not the most patient person, this helps me to be more so with him.

I’m only working on this project while I’m with him. It started out that way because it’s a very simple pattern that doesn’t require a huge amount of focus. So, good when you get interrupted frequently; it can be put down at any point and easily continued. And, if I leave him and head to parts north, I don’t have to spend time trying to figure out where I am when I get back south.

He lives about 5 hours away from me. I usually see him about every six weeks but right now it is much more often.  I’m about 60% completed.  I hope to finish it while he’s still with me.  Not sure that will happen.  

He’s asked for whom I’m making it. I’m pretty sure that I will need to keep it as a remembrance of the time we are spending together.  Every stitch of this project really does hold a memory.

There is more to the story of why I’m making this scarf  in this yarn that I will share when it’s done (Teaser!).