Thanks to Ella!

It is only fitting that my first post on this crochet blog should be a tribute to my husband's grandmother, Ella Sander Tietke, who had the patience to teach me to crochet. It was a craft that took many years of giving up and giving it another chance, until I figured out how to do it. Ella loved to make the ripple afghan and that was her signature. Over the years, she probably made over 100 of them, all without charge, just asking people to cover the cost of the yarn. As her niece always says, Thank God for Tanta Ella's Afghans! Each of us had our own, and snuggled under them while watching TV, or reading a good book, or sneaking an afternoon nap. In our family, you can see them draped over a couch, positioned on the end of a bed, or piled with others in baskets on the floors. It has been said that Ella first liked to knit but after having a heart attack in her 30's, her doctor suggested that she change to crocheting since it was a less stressful technique. In my memories of her sitting in her comfy chair, fingers laced with yarn, her project was always afghans, and always the ripple, with combinations of two to three colors, and always Red Heart yarn. If you bought her skeins, she would suggest complementing colors and say a total of seven for an adult and five for a child. She had a cottage industry before they had a name for it. And to Ella, I say Thank you for teaching me to crochet.