Beautiful memories you have there Stickman!

My grandfather would put the skein over a chairback and wind it off into balls so my grandmother could keep knitting, but he would wind them so tightly he could make them bounce and Grandmamma was not impressed... it was almost as good as their goodnatured bickering over whether the meat fat was so burnt it couldn't be reused for cooking any more and was ready for him to use for greasing tools and making soap. As I remember all their soap smelt like burnt meat fat.

I hope you keep up with your crochet though! Have you made any garters?