I am an expert crocheter, thanks to my grandma’s teaching, yet an equally-inept knitter and seamstress, despite my grandma’s teaching.  From a very young age, my grandma was a gifted seamstress, knitter, and crocheter.  (Her dad had been a tailor.  She figured she must have “inherited” her talent from him.)  When my grandma was 13 years old (in the early 1920s), in order to help support her family, she took a job with a clothing manufacturer.  Her job was to go to couture fashion shows, then go back to the factory and create exactly by memory (and at a lower cost) the designers’ fashions...yep, there were knockoffs back then, too!  She somehow could create anything (sans pattern), and she would carry that talent with her well into her 80s.  She attempted to pass down to each of her grandchildren that same talent.  No such luck.  Except for me and the crochet part.  In 2005 my grandma gave me what will always be some of my most prized possessions:  all of her knitting needles, crochet hooks, straight pins and pin cushions, and…wait for it…Singer Sewing Machine (purchased new in 1930).  I still have many of her handmade items including a spectacular knitted, lined handbag with wooden handle.  (I use it often…smiling all the while.)  In fact, there’s a "talking photo" I have uploaded of my sister and myself--and I just now noticed--we’re wearing sweaters my grandma made.  Thanks Grandma.  Love you so much!  Miss you.