Angels Among Us

Lush feelings evoked by piles of yarn waiting in readiness to become family heirlooms and appreciated gifts. All colors of the rainbow swirling around in your mind’s eye setting an eager little thrill through you at all the prospects these gems can become. One thing they will all become is … angels. Angels with their wings spread wide to sweep all your cares away. A slight halo over her head so everyone knows her purpose. A wide skirt to hold all the cares of your day. All of this beauty is framed by scalloped shells to give your work purpose and definition.

This obsession with angels started at my mother’s second husband’s funeral reception. There were so many aunts and uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters and various other friends of the family there to offer solace to Mom on the loss of her second husband. I was never close to the gentleman, had no thoughts one way or another about his life and the way he lived it. I also knew my presence was obligatory as the only daughter so I could be there to hold Mom’s hand or whatever. And I knew I was going to be grindingly bored out of my skull. The challenge was in doing something to keep me busy without taking away from my subservience.

An activity that was considered home based but with religious overtones was the look I was going for. In the craft store I was searching up one aisle then another trying to find something that caught my eye. At last, a booklet on crochet patterns for angels. Single angels, block patterns of angels, filigree angels, everything was in this one booklet. I decided on the pattern for the block angel that could be repeated in rows of 3 to make all kinds of home goods. At the time the popular color was a teal or turquoise solid and the pattern only had 14 lines to it so it should be easy to assemble in a few hours effort.

I started laughing to myself after the first couple of hours sitting in the rocker trying to get this pattern to work. I was self taught and had been crocheting for my own pleasure for many years. This pattern was going to be my Waterloo. No matter how many times I hooked it stitch by stitch it wouldn’t match the picture on the front of the pamphlet. Finally the frustration from this pattern and the continuous din of all the funeral attendees got on my nerves and I packed everything away.

After a few weeks being back home I took this project out and looked at it with a very critical eye. Shazam! It hit me. On the corner turning there were 3 stitches misaligned. Once I saw how simple the fix was my fingers started flying around the square and the first of many angels was born. Since that first angel there has been bedspreads, lap robes, baby blankets and pillows made with this pattern. Some were plain, some embellished with beads in the wings or halo and some were stitched with metallic threads running through the stitch work. An example was a cream colored 9 block afghan with silver threads worked up for a 25th wedding anniversary as well as a white afghan with gold threads for a 50th wedding anniversary gift.

Throughout the years I have kept several of these afghans and lap robes made up as gifts for any occasion since they take about 2 to 3 weeks apiece to complete. This way, if a charitable organization has a need for a raffle item I have one ready to go. The joy I have seen in the recipients' faces filled my heart many times. The wonder of a young child as these angels come to life under my fingers makes all the small twinges of arthritis worth it. If I have a problem I’m working on I just start hooking an angel and the answer soon comes to me or I feel a profound peace enveloping me about what needs to be done.

What started out as something to keep my hands busy while fulfilling an obligation has become passion. Since I started making these blessings for others I must have completed approximately 500 or more. Several generations of new mothers can no longer think of having a baby without one of these angel blankets for their precious newborn. I’ve never accepted payment for any of these angels. Several people have tried to pay me but it doesn’t feel right to take remuneration for this gift. This has been my passion for over 30 years and I don’t see me putting my crochet hooks down any time soon. Not while there are so many out there that need an angel to watch over them.