In remembrance: My Grandmother's Claddagh Wall Hang

In remembrance of my grandmother, one of the best and strongest and kindest women I have ever have the privilege to know, who passed away on March12th. I'd like to share with you the gift I made for her this last Christmas.

This hung by her window, on two thumb tacks until we had to empty her room. Now it hangs in my mothers kitchen and a soon as I finish my mother's very belated Christmas gift she will have a matching pillow.

The gift was very fitting I can see now for two reasons. First is that even though it was my mother who taught me how to crochet it was my grandmother who really introduced me to patterns (and pom poms, which I have sadly forgotten). Also I have found memories of drawing with her at the kitchen table and drawing the chart was a big part of this project.

                               

The second reason is something I didn't realize until it was pointed out in the eulogy by my cousin Nikki. That my grandmother lived the irish clyder everyday. For those of you who are not irish and thus might not be familiar with it I'll explain. The irish clyder is made of three components: the hands, the heart, and the crown.

The hands symbolize friendship, the hands that hold you up if you fall. My grandmother was one of the best friends your could have. She was always making new friends with everyone she met. This included the nurses and her roommate. A person would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't like her. She was always willing to give a helping hand. 

The crown symbolizes loyalty and she was very loyal to her family and if any of us ever needed anything she was the first person to offer help. You could always go and talk to her about your problems and she would give you the best advice she could. She inspired loyalty in her children which she always encouraged to help each other.

The last and biggest part of the clyder was love. My grandmother was full of love. Every time you would go to see her she would be so happy to see you, like you were the most important person in the world. And When ever you talked to her all she wanted to know was what was new in your life. She gave everything she could not only to family, but to strangers. She gave a large portion of her money to charity every month and volunteered at St. Vincent's de Paul until she no longer could. Also to show her love she made a baby blanket for each of her great grand children until her fingers gave up, I helped her to finish her last one.

I am working on my mother's matching pillow and I hope to finish it before Easter. When it is finished I will post pictures up here =)