Photo of crocheter Maria Antonia ("Antoinette") Ludovici Martinez, San Bruno, California, USA

I took this photo of my grandma on her birthday--we had made the cake, and I had used for it what were in my opinion the best candleholders, the ballerina candleholders.  My grandma was an excellent crocheter, as were most of the Italian and Italian-American women in my family; crochet was considered something that the women in the family did.  They could all embroider, do at least basic sewing, and some did more--my grandmother crocheted beautiful things her whole life, moving to crocheting with only thicker yarns as her eyesight and arthritis in her hands made working with thinner yarns and threads more difficult.  Her mother, and perhaps she as well, also tatted.  My grandmother could also sew anything.