Today I had to do it. The “Noel” quilted wall hanging needed to be retired. I could no longer convince myself it stood for “Noreen’s Office of Elegant Living.” I chose a wall hanging that my grandmother Laura had started in the early 1960s and I finished it several winters ago. Pink butterflies work in the spring season.
As I dug through my stash of strings and yarn to use as a carrier after the wall hanging of the butterflies placket was strung onto a piece of decorative trim, much like a curtain rod . . . come on . . . you knew I would have such a stash, Esther Schafer came to mind.
She was a mother-in-law second to none. She was a great cook and the Hector public school cafeteria could attest to that. She was their head cook for decades. She hand embroidered anything that would lie flat. Esther could crochet in her sleep and she was patient when she taught me while I was pregnant with Carrie. It was not unusual that the postman made frequent deliveries to her home from “LeeWards,” the catalog craft company. Skeins of yarn are milled leaving a tail of yarn hanging out of one end. That was to be the starter for the projects that would ensue. It would be rare if you could use the entire skein without a huge mess of tangled yarn spilling out all at once.
Esther ordered a yarn winder. It clamped onto the edge of a table with a starter spindle and a hand crank. Once the spindle was started, one hand worked the crank and the other hand continued to feed the yarn out of the belly of the skein. With deft speed each skein would become this beautiful honeycomb looking creation of a flat bottomed cylindrical 4 oz. ball of yarn. How could I not think of Esther as I peered into my stash. Priceless.