Weird Kid, Green Room, Crochet and a Glory Box

By Veronica Smith – 16 Comments

1) WEIRD KID
Well we are doing up miss 15-year-old’s room. It’s about time. She’s been in there since she was 3. She has done her part and pulled everything out, thrown broken old things away and given a huge amount to charity. She is currently sleeping in the spare bedroom. She has been ‘saving up’ for this moment. Her 15th birthday just passed and there was no present because she wanted her room done. She will be getting a new bed, side tables and mattress from us. Presents are never that big, however, we were going to do it anyway. She has used her birthday money from others to purchase a new cover for her bed and she is going to purchase, with her own money, a glass display cabinet for her precious things. She has been using the one I had when I was 11. I’ll make some curtains and she will keep her existing floor mat.

2) GREEN ROOM
Hubby is going to paint the walls, since I am a horrible painter. My daughter wants her walls green, screaming green. I suppose apple green is the best I can describe it. For some bizarre reason hubby said YES to this green wall request. Let’s just not even discuss what’s going through my head.

3) CROCHET
What does all this have to do with the humble crochet hook? Well, little miss modern and I were in a shop that sold yarn. She grabbed some yarn of the same bright green that the paint is and asked if I can make doilies for her side tables, tie backs for her new curtains, and some cushions to throw on her bed. I confirmed that this was all to be crocheted and she was very definite about it. I have to get some other color to go in with the cushions. I am glad she is having some color on the bed because she bought a black bed cover. Probably a good thing given the color of the walls.

4) GLORY BOX
This brings me to the glory box. As we were strolling through IKEA for a bed, she studied all the room displays with interest and worked out what she would like in her own place. You see, she has worked out exactly how she will save up for a house and how she will pay it off, etc. She is determined, I hope she keeps this up. Anyway, she started looking through all the linens, towels, storage, kitchenware, etc. It was when we were studying the different types of cutlery that she announced that for all her future presents from us and the family that she wanted household items and she would keep them all for the future. As I was explaining that this was what was know as a “Glory Box”, which was an old tradition, she listened intently. I realized after several minutes that we had an audience. Those who remembered them, those who were learning about them and heaps that were fascinated about a child of today wanting one.

BACK TO CROCHET. She was armed with face washers, towels, pillow cases and tea-towels for demonstration purposes and explained how she wanted crochet edgings on all of them. There was also the request for crochet afghans, cushion covers, place-mats and mats for the floor. All for this glory box. Apparently crochet is “cool”. Poor granddad has been commissioned to make the box to put it all in.

The good news? Crochet lives for another generation.

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16 Comments

  1. Lane † says:

    Great post, Veronica! 🙂

  2. Vicki says:

    Oh wow! Such inspiration! This is a great post. FYI, just signed up…going shopping in your store this weekend…OMG…loovvveeee your patterns. Can’t wait to try them!

  3. Yvette says:

    Found you through Pinterest. So happy to hear another Mum with kids liking your crochet. My 14 yr old son got sick of Mum making blankets for everyone else so asked if I could make one for him. He now has a double bed size stripped blanket he designed. You could do 1 to cover the black bed cover. She can pick the colours and their order. He calls it his ‘MummyHug’.

  4. Summer says:

    Crochet is definitely making a comeback. You can find so many baby items on Etsy that are crocheted. Also, when planning my wedding I found a lot of brides using doilies as decorations (table runners, invitations, bunting, etc) and I made my wedding dress out of doilies after seeing another doily dress that inspired me!

  5. Tania says:

    This is wonderful! I have a six, almost seven, year old and I hope she loves crochet and is as practical and grounded as your daughter is when she’s fifteen! 🙂 You are blessed!

  6. Cathye Clark says:

    Don’t you just love when the next generation appreciates what we enjoy doing?

  7. Wanda says:

    I think it’s great that she is taking an interest in all of this and that she appreciates crochet (esp yours). Here we call the “glory box” a “hope chest”. I think it is AWESOME that she wants her
    dad to make it and that she wants crochet from you to go in it. I had Mama’s and when I learned that my daughter had asked for one from her hubby for Christmas one year, I asked if she would
    like her grandmother’s instead. She jumped at the chance to get it. Even though she was already married, she keeps some of her treasured things there………..things that were grands and great-grands and a few special things from her mom. 🙂

  8. Donna Parcel says:

    When I was younger (Now in my 70’s) the box you call ‘Glory Box” was a chest usually about 3-5 feet long and 24 to 36 inches tall and deep and it was called a ‘Hope Chest’ most teenaged girls would get presents intended to be used for their own homes later and put them in the ‘Hope Chest’ along with things they made for their future homes.

    My grandchildren almowst always prefer crocheted or knitted items for gifts–15 grandkids keeps my needles busy.

  9. Emilie says:

    What a fun story; and hats off to you for raising your daughter with such strong values.

  10. Bethintx1 says:

    I love this story! The version I grew up with was called a hope chest.

  11. Merry says:

    Interesting to note that people across the world are not so different from each other in some things! It is a deeply-entrenched tradition in some parts of Asia (including many Turkic-speaking countries) for young girls to make decorative hand-crafted items to put into their ‘wedding chest’, including embroidered bedspreads, pillow shams, crochet doilies and other traditional items.

  12. Wendy says:

    And two wonderful traditions live on through another generation. That is awesome, heartening news!

  13. Etta says:

    So nice to see that some old traditions will survive. I always think of my mom when I crochet. It is a very comforting thing. Wish I had a daughter to teach.

  14. Sandy L says:

    i quite understand about the green, i share a room with my two younger sisters, and one of them convinced us and my dad to paint one wall bright green, luckily most of the wall is covered by the bed with the built in shelves.i am glad that your daughter wants crochet in her room, i am 17 and always have some sort of knitting, crochet, or needlework in my hands.

  15. carol says:

    i had a hope chest when i was 15, many years ago.. and my now 18-year-old daughter wants one… i enjoyed your tale and it reminds me that the same daughter wants her room re-done, also with very definite ideas and colors! Welcome to the world of assertive women! Good for you!
    P.S: teach that child to crochet her own linens!! LOL

  16. Veronica Smith says:

    Carol – It is great to see that other children have one. I hope you and your daughter have as much fun putting it together as my daughter and i are. Teach her to crochet! I am thinking she needs to sit still first………

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