krismulkey.com: Hand made gifts by ta. (as in "ta da!")

I have a special post today from my friend Noelle Walker. I met Noelle a long time ago when we were Delta Gamma college sorority sisters back at TCU. We reconnected a few years ago when I moved to San Francisco.

Some of you here in the Bay Area may recognize her from her work as an Emmy award winning TV reporter. In fact, she just interviewed Tom Brokaw before a Governor's debate. And she currently runs her own business called Scoop Media.

In her spare time she crochets amazing hats and scarves. So for those of you that just finished reading the article Killing off Supermom. You're in luck. Noelle is here to save us. So ladies (and gents), put down your knitting needles, set aside the beads and please, put down the be-dazzler. It's not "in" anymore anyway. I have the solution.

Hand made gifts. Made with love, from an old college friend.

In her own words:

My hands are stiff. Achy. The joints crack with every bend. I think of my Grammy, telling me not to hold the needle and yarn so tightly.

Grammy taught me to crochet when I was about 7 years old. With my little hands sweating over every stitch, she cooed over my miscounted, misfit creations. There is photo evidence tucked away in a box in a closet somewhere of me wearing my “designs”. I vividly remember a crooked vest of burnt orange and gold (in my defense, it was the ‘70‘s) that I fashioned from my grandmother’s scrap yarn pile. My mom cried when I insisted on wearing it to document my 2nd grade year. Grammy couldn’t have been more proud!

It’s been decades since I picked up a crochet hook, or thought about how to do a 1/2 double or seed stitch. So I don’t know what gave me the idea to make a baby blanket for my oldest and dearest friend. It wasn’t just left field, it was an idea that came from the left side nosebleed bleacher seats! I called Grammy, who’s now 97, hoping she’d tell me to just go buy one and be done with it. Instead, she told me it was like riding a bike. She had all the confidence in the world that I could, indeed, make a BEAUTIFUL baby blanket. I had to ask if she remembered that horrible vest! She remembered it differently than I: perfect.

I had no clue the baby blanket would lead me down a road that wasn’t even on my map. After years as a news reporter and media consultant/coach, the roads I travel lead to press conferences, crime scenes, and the occasional Hollywood star gone-to-jail-rehab-jail-rehab. When I picked up that crochet hook, I really went off the map!

I started making hats and scarves for friends’ birthdays. A few of them told me I should sell them (sometimes you need friends to tell you you’re better than you think you are), and “ta da!”... a business. In my case, it was just “ta”: that’s what I named my business. “Ta” is Australian slang for “thanks”, something everyone who I gave one of my hats/scarves to said...genuine thanks. To them, I say ta for believing in me!

So here I am; crocheting my way to early arthritis, channeling my Grammy with every stitch. “Loosen your grip, sweetie...” “That’s just beautiful...” (Smile).