Grandma Keats

I know some things about my Grandma Keats. I never met her; she died before I was born.

“Grandma Keats,” from the Marci Keats Rudolph collection. All Rights Reserved.

Our guest writer, Marci Keats Rudolph, joins us from Nova Scotia, Canada, and is a returning writer for the Projectkin Members’ Corner. Monthly posts from members celebrate their contributions to family history storytelling — in all its forms. Posts may be written or recorded (audio or video) will be shared for free each month. Explore the entire Members’ Corner here.

My dad hardly ever spoke about Grandma Keats, but my mother was full of stories. She and my father moved in with her and Nan, Dad’s grandmother, at some point post-WWII. Mom didn’t know how to cook; she had been a career secretary at Lever Brothers¹.

Grandma Keats taught her, and they bonded like friends. I say ‘friends’ because my mother’s face would look longing and wistful when she spoke about their time together.

Grandma’s antique crochet hooks. From the Marci Keats Rudolph collection. All Rights Reserved.

According to Mom, Grandma was skilled in every domestic task imaginable and remained quiet and humble. I know she taught Mom to knit, and I suspect she tried to teach her crochet. These antique-looking crochet hooks I found in her sewing basket could be proof—or not.

I also have some very old knitting needles from my mother’s collection. The material in them wasn’t what I found in Eaton’s² in my teens. That aside, she helped me learn to knit in Girl Guides.³ 

If I’m sitting these days, I’m knitting. I thank my Grandma Keats and possibly Nan for passing on this delightful craft. From dishcloths to sweaters, blankets, and recently socks, I love working with all kinds of fibres. 

Grandma Keats knowledge, passed on so I can knit for myself. From the Marci Keats Rudolph collection. All Rights Reserved.

I am knitting this sock (the first of two, hopefully) for one of our grandchildren.

I love this quote from the poem:

“The Sermon in the Stocking”

‘Life is a stocking,’ grandma says,

‘And yours is just begun;

But I am knitting the toe of mine,

And my work is almost done.’

The entire poem, the Sermon in the Stocking, may be read on MetaSorting.com.

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1. Lever Brothers: Although Lever Brothers was an American firm, they had a large presence in Canada, and my mother worked at the Toronto (Head) Office. Just after she met my father, she was offered the Executive Secretary position to the firm's President in Chicago. She turned it down to marry Dad.

2. The Timothy Eaton Company, now defunct, was one of two major department stores in Canada for decades, especially in Toronto.

3. Girl Guides: The equivalent of Girl Scouts in the U.S.A.