I’d like to thank you for all your kind comments and condolences on the passing of my mom Jannet. The amount of comments and love shared between our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube socials has comforted our whole family. Truly, the crochet corner of the internet is the best-kept secret.
My mom passed suddenly on Halloween night from cardiac arrest. From what we have all been able to piece together of her last day, she had been out to lunch with a friend that day, then home to get her candy ready for the neighborhood trick or treating. From looking at her phone, she chatted with a friend about the book club meeting they were going to have the next day. Seven minutes later, she called 911 herself.
Her neighbor across the street told us that when she saw the paramedics arrive she walked over to see if there was anything she could do to help. My mom was walking out to the ambulance and told her she just felt a little pain in her chest and she wanted to get checked out.
According to the emergency room, our mom walked into the hospital, and they hooked her up to an EKG and could not see anything wrong and she did not have a heart attack, but kept her for monitoring. Some hours later, she went into cardiac arrest and passed.
My sister Nichole, who lives the closest to her, was the first to receive a phone call from the hospital that she was critical. She immediately started driving to the hospital, but on the way the doctor called with the dreadful news.
I left Arizona the next morning for Colorado and have been here ever since. There have been so many small miracles that have let us know that everything is okay, she is so happy to be reunited with our dad, and leaving this life in such an abrupt manner, even though incredibly painful for us left behind, is exactly how she would have wanted it.
My three sisters and I have been cleaning and organizing her house all week experiencing small tender mercies in items we’d find, or photographs that would spark a memory. We had help from our own daughters in organizing the abundance of my moms craft supplies, small treasures, china, clothing as well as giving her home a deep clean and ready to receive company.
My mom has lived in the same town since 1972 and gathered an incredible amount of friends that became family to her. We knew that she would want her house to look as good as the day she moved in. We hosted over 100 people the night before the funeral. It was just the party that my mom would have loved. She was the type of woman who loved having her house full at all times.
We held her funeral yesterday, November 11, exactly 52 years from the day she lost her mom to cancer-funny how the universe works sometimes. My mom has been a pillar of strength all these years too. Her dad died of a heart attack four years before her mom died. My mom has been parentless since she was 28.
My heart is full of gratitude for the love, sacrifice and devotion she gave to me and my five brothers and sisters, her 30 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
I’d like to share my talk I gave yesterday at her funeral. It’s something I’ve shared about her on the website each time I’ve made a blessing blanket, but I think I was finally able to articulate and understand the meaning crochet has for me in my life. And what I hope that it will bring to my children and grandchildren.
Thank you again for being so supportive through this difficult time. My heart is healing and every day is better.
XO, Tiffany
The following is the talk I gave November 11, 2024 at the funeral of Jannet M. Downs:
Thank you everyone for being here today to celebrate the life of my mom, Jannet Downs—our beloved grandmother, sister, and friend. I’m Tiffany, her second daughter. As I have reflected on her this past week, one of the most vivid images that has come to my mind are her beautiful hands-always manicured, showing the signs of age, as they started to shake a little, yet they still were constantly busy.
One of my favorite things, as you can imagine, to watch her hands do as a little girl was crochet. I remember sitting at her side as a child, watching as she worked her crochet hook in out and around the yarn. I would be fascinated as she held the yarn in one hand and the hook in the other and create the most beautiful stitches and watch a blanket grow.
As I grew older, she would teach me many of the stitches. When my skills became sufficient she would let me work a few stitches on her projects, or sometimes have me work rows to help her get a baby shower gift finished.
We come from a long line of crocheters as her mom taught her, and her grandmother taught her mom. “In the old days”, she would say, “they crocheted with string and always added borders onto flour sacks for dish cloths, or trim the edge of a blouse.”
Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 11 I feel, reflects a secret that my mom knew, her mom knew, and her grandmother knew about creating: It says, “and that ye study to be quiet,…, and to work with your own hands …. that ye may walk honestly… and that ye may have lack of nothing.”
My mom truly embodied this spirit. She worked and kept her hands busy, not just in crochet, but in making wedding cakes for so many people, creating beautiful paintings and drawings, and creating a home for us. She worked hard, and did it all with a heart full of love with a commitment to her faith and family. Sharing her talents filled her life with good friends who loved her and her grandchildren that adored her. She truly lacked nothing as she quietly practiced her crafts.
Besides the many baby blankets she made for friends, she crocheted 30 special white blessing blankets—one for each of her grandchildren—each one being a symbol of her love, her faith, and her commitment to them.
Maybe many of you grandchildren here today have seen your blessing blanket that she made especially for you. I want you to know that they weren’t just pieces of yarn woven together; they were her prayers and blessings for you, stitched with purpose, given to each grandchild on your blessing day symbolizing a grandmother’s prayer: a prayer that her grandchildren would always feel covered by love, surrounded by faith, and protected by grace.
As I have been able to be in Colorado with my sisters this last week, I decided to crochet a blessing blanket for my mom. I recreated the very first blessing blanket that she had made for Hannah, her first grandchild.
As my sisters and I had the opportunity to dress her for the burial this past Thursday, I tucked this special blessing blanket around her and folded her delicate hands on top. Natalee then offered a beautiful prayer, blessing her with peace and comfort and a joyful reunion with our dad and also thanking her for being the vessel that brought each one of us into this world.
So, as I say goodbye to my mom today, I take comfort in knowing that her love for me will never unravel. Her love, like the yarn she worked with so skillfully, is strong and will continue to wrap me in warmth. And as each of you grandchildren carry the blessing blankets she made for you, you carry a piece of her heart with you too.
So, mom, thank you for your love, your faith, and your example. You’ve woven us into the fabric of your life, and we are better for it. I will miss your hands, your heart, and your presence, but I will continue to honor you by working with my hands—just as you taught me—so that I may also honor the Lord with all my heart.
