Traditions within My Family

I looked to my mom when I wondered about some of the traditions in my family, such as knitting and crocheting (which I am now taking part in). The reason I turned to my mom, Janet Oge, is because it turns out that she taught herself how to crochet at the age of 6 from a book, and how to knit at the age of 16. Her interest came from my Great Aunt and her doilies.

Some interesting brief history about crocheting: History suggest, according to one website, that crochet came from Chinese needlework, which was a type of embroidery. It began in Europe in the 1800s and was further pushed by Mlle. Riego de la Branchardiere, who was able to create easy crochet patterns using an old-style needle and bobbin lace.
source: http://www.crochet.org/newslet/nl0997a.html

My Mom's  Recent Projects:

Here are pictures of a pair of socks and some blankets my mom crocheted. There is also a picture of a mandolin here. This is another tradition that my mother has started, gotten me interested in, and causing me to have even less time in my short life.

I asked my mom why she was interested in learning how to play an instrument, such as the mandolin, keyboard, guitar, and flute. She said it probably has something to do with the music she grew up with. I was aware that my Grandma did not have an interest in music. I asked her about this. I learned that my Grandma always wanted to learn how to play the piano. However, because of the poverty she grew up with, there was a lack of resources there. So, I believe that she may have resented this so much that she gave up on ever learning how to play the beautiful instrument and now has no interest in music at all. However, I do find it interesting that she still makes comments about the piano being "beautiful" when she hears it on the television.

My mom grew up liking rock 'n' roll (Kiss was her big thing when she was a teenager. She liked them until she saw them in concert, then the love was over). She's also into classical, such as Mozart. In fact, she has gotten me interested in Jethro Tull and I think I got her hooked on System of a Down. (If you like classic rock, and if you believe you would enjoy classic rock with a flutist (an interesting twist) , I would suggest to anyone that they look into Jethro Tull. System of a Down is a more recent heavy metal that has some strong lyrics about the world around us. I find this cross-tradition (?) type of exchange interesting. (Technically my mom introduced me to SOAD, but I got interested and re-introduced it to her. It's a complicated story that happened over a span of a few years).

Video games was something that has been in my family for many years. My Grandfather loved Space Invaders and Duck Hunt (he liked to try to shoot at the dog when he missed the ducks). My mom and father had video games all over the house when I was growing up, so my sister and I grew up loving them. Because of my parents, I will definitely pass this tradition on to my future children. It will be up to them what they will do with it in their future.