The Chicken & the Egg

I’ve written before about my great-grandma, who was a prolific crafter. She lived to be 102, remaining in her own home through age 100, and she crafted for essentially all of her long life. Moreso than her impressive lifespan and crafting ability, Great-Grandma Louise was defined by her Catholicism, and her youngest son, my grandfather, was also very Catholic. Since it’s Easter week, it seems fitting that I bust out another appropriately Catholic creation of my Great-Grandma’s, a knit Easter chick designed to fit cozily around a plastic egg.

Since I know I’ve got a few Baby Boomers out there reading, I do know that the egg Mr. Chick is crafted around is, in fact, a vintage L’eggs egg. Great-Grandma seemed to have a thing for knitting and crocheting cozies for a variety of household objects. See: this chick/egg, her nail polish cover & a household cleaner cover. The woman also clearly liked googly eyes.

(PS: Look at this 1991 New York Times article I came across about the “big switch” L’eggs made from plastic to cardboard eggs. Funny!)

What makes this unusual knit item so special isn’t just its handmade and vintage status. It’s sporting an Easter blessings stamp around its little neck featuring her son’s name on the back in her handwriting. She lived so long that her knitting was incredible, but her handwriting was beautifully shaky. Despite being one of dozens of great-grandchildren, many of us have the odd handmade item like this laying around, which is really special. It’s really beautiful to be able to hang on to precious handmade items like this, and it’s a nice reminder about the value of handmade gifts – even ones as random as The Chick & The Egg.