Baba's Story

My maternal grandmother DeLeeuw was a knitter. She made me clothes for my Barbies's, mittens, hats, etc. Thus she taught my mother to knit. My mother used to knit us caps as she waited for us at at swim practice. I took a knitting class at the Hamilton, Ohio YWCA with my good friend Martha Wolf. Our mothers would drop us off on Saturday morning and we knit slippers! Then we would have grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch at the YWCA cafe. I picked up knitting again several years ago as I needed something to do while watching TV. And in 2020, with the pandemic "hibernation" I really have enjoyed trying new patterns, finding beautiful yarn, and I love the challenge of learning new stitches.

Baba

The Bulgarian word for the mother of one's father or mother. I became very good friends with a lovely lady named Lucy while living in Northern Illinois. Lucy has three daughters. Lucy's family lives in Bulgaria so I became a "stand- in " grandmother (Baba) for her girls. When my daughter had her first child she asked me what I wanted to be called. BABA of course!

So my granddaughters Quinn and Laine call me Baba!

So the circle comes around that I am a Baba and knitting, as my grandmother and my mother used to do. I also was raised to give back to my community. The homeless population in our country is sad. I am hoping that my small contribution to provide a "handmade with love" beanie to men, women, and children in various communities,
will let them know that people do care about them.