apricots and crochet

Little things remind me of my Grandmother. I've been finishing some projects that I started awhile ago. I'm working on crocheting a baby sweater and matching blanket. My grandmother used to crochet. She crocheted me a poncho once for my birthday and I loved it. I used to try to mimic her fingers and crochet, but I am a little uncoordinated and struggled with it. It wasn't until recently that I've been able to pick it up. As I've been crocheting my blanket and experimenting with different stitches, I've been thinking about memories with my Grandmother. I remember picking apples and apricots from her trees and her huge garden. My Grandmother seemed to be outside more than anywhere else. She grew a lovely garden every year along with lots of flowers. She was also an amazing cook. I remember her kitchen sink being full of apples bobbing up and down in the water and my mom helping her peel them for an apple pie and at the same time making applesauce to can. I remember Grandma sending us home with as many apricots as we could fit in our car and my mom making apricot pineapple jam for us. (Maybe that's why my little brothers love apricots so much... ok, they aren't so little anymore, they're 32 and 29... ) I'm hoping to learn to can this summer so I can keep some of the traditions alive that were started by my Grandma. James and I are hoping to take a drive to Idaho this summer to visit James' brother. That way I can buy some flats of apricots to make into jam. (Apricots don't grow here and someone finally told me why. I've been wondering about it for awhile. They say it doesn't get cold enough here, finally a mystery solved!)Life seemed so much simpler then. This is the poncho my Grandma crocheted for me. (People have asked me about this picture... So here is the question to the answer I know you're dying to ask. My hair didn't start getting really curly until I hit puberty and then it began kinking up tighter every year until I got into high school. Aren't those middle years just so much fun! And yeah, I grew up with that awesomely orange flowered couch that I'm sitting on!!!)