When I was twelve years old my
mother taught me how to do something that many people today say is a talent-how
to crochet.
I never thought of it as a talent,
and quite honestly, I still don’t. I
think of it as something I was taught to do, and I never really forgot. I guess the closest thing I can think of to
describing it is that it’s like riding a bicycle; once you learn you never
really forget.
Since learning how to crochet, I have made
many afghans, but there is ones that I
am especially proud of. It’s an American
flag afghan. The reason I made it was to
enter it into the Southeastern Agricultural Fair, that is held in Florence
every year.
I made American flag afghan’s in the
past, but I was never really happy with the way some of them turned out. One had too many holes, while another one was
lopsided in shape. I wanted this flag to
be as close to perfect as I could get it.
I spent weeks looking for what I
considered the right shade of red, white and blue. I
could not find a flag pattern that I was happy with, so I combined several
patterns that I already had and turned them into what I considered to be the
right one.
It took me just over six months to
finish my flag. I remember looking at it
with pride when my husband said something that made me realize the afghan was
not finished. He asked, “Do you know how
it’s going to be displayed?”
I have to admit I had no idea how
the flag would be displayed. I
researched and discovered that the proper way to display the American flag is
to have the star field in the upper left hand corner.
I had to make 50 more stars so that
the blue on both sides of the flag would have stars on it. This way no matter how the flag was displayed
it would be right.
Confident with my flag, I headed
down to Florence to enter my afghan and several other items I had made for the
Southeastern Agricultural Fair. When I
got there I had no idea how to enter my items because I had never done it
before. I spoke to several of the other
participants that had entered items in previous years, and they told me what to
do and assured me that it was not hard at all.
They were right, and after entering my items, I went home and told my
husband, who responded with a smile, “You will win a Blue Ribbon.”
My family and I went to the fair the
coming weekend. To be honest I was
nervous. A part of me wanted to see if I
had a blue ribbon attached to the flag I had worked so hard to make, and
another part of me didn’t want to see in the off chance that I did not have any
ribbon at all on it.
I walked to where the handmade goods
were displayed, and at first I did not see my flag, and my heart sank. Then as I walked a little further and spotted
it. There it was in display for everyone
to see, and yes, my husband was right; I did win the blue ribbon.
I don’t know who was happier, my
husband or me. It does not really matter;
we both knew that when the fair was over and I brought the flag home, it would
be placed in a special place in our home.
And it is- my blue ribbon and my
American flag afghan are the first thing you see when you walk through my front
door. Every time I look at it I am
filled with pride as an American and at my accomplishment.
I have no idea what I can make that
will top making the American flag. I
have considered making the state flag, but that will have to wait until next
year.
I do know one thing. Whatever I do make it will be something
different and totally unpredictable.
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