For me, crafting was a way to touch my family members. Since I was an only child born late in my parents life, three of my grandparents had passed, and many of my parents' aunts & uncles.
I grew up listening to the stories of their lives, and their crafts. My paternal grandfather was a Blacksmith, and had worked as a butcher. I still have handmade hammers that came off the ranch, and they are in use. Just tonight I told my son that he was using a hammer from the ranch, and his great-grandfather had made things with it.
My father and I tooled leather together. My mother and her mother crocheted, and Grandma tatted. My paternal grandmother quilted and sewed, and through sewing I felt closer to her, even though she died the year before I was born.
I have tried to share a love of handcrafting with my children. My daughter is starting to make jewelry and knit: my son won best of show at our local fair for his carpentry work. To me there is no greater joy than making something useful and beautiful with my hands, and knowing that generations before me have, and generations after me will continue on building and creating.
