Sunday, May 13, 2007
Post Seventy-One: Memories
*hums Cats tune* Anyway, I was just posting this on the craft forum I belong to on Gaia, and it occurred to me to put it on here, since it is, after all, my knitting blog.
Ever had a project that's been particularly memorable to work on? Like something that just meant the world to someone to get, or to you to make?
Mine was finishing my grandmother's washcloth. When my great-grandmother died, we were cleaning out her house and trying to organize some of the craft things she'd left, and we came upon several garbage bags' worth of yarn and half-finished and a few finished projects. One of them was a half-done washcloth in a purple/blue/lavender Peaches n' Cream cotton with one row done in an off-white. My mother looked at it and said "Too bad it wasn't finished." and sighed, so I took it from her and looked at the pattern, and realized it was the same one I'd used to make a baby blanket a couple years ago, so I told her "I could finish it for you." and did.
It was definitely a moving experience, finishing Grandma's work. It turns out we had the exact same gauge, and I was able to use her needles for the whole rest of it. It's an interesting thing to look at for me, the way it's two colors like it is. It's almost like she left it waiting for me...her half, and mine. I love the idea that I was able to help that little piece of her live on like that.
[end of original post]I also was lucky enough to get to keep the needles from that one, and a set of 10.5, 8" DPNs made of...something I'm not sure of. I'm thinking they might actually be an old set of Baleens or something close. It means a lot to me to have been able to do that; to have a part of her so meaningful to both of us that will be used and not just looked at. Every once in a while, I go over to the jar I keep my straights in and just...hold them for a while. I miss her, I do; and while we weren't really especially close, her absence is something I can't help but notice.
My Gramma, her oldest daughter, also gave me many of her old patterns and Workbasket issues, and I treasure those like little else I've owned. I've gotten gifts made from some of those patterns, and now I can give them, maybe make some for the great-grandchild that will do the same when I have passed.
Thank you, Grandma, for giving me this opportunity.
Ever had a project that's been particularly memorable to work on? Like something that just meant the world to someone to get, or to you to make?
Mine was finishing my grandmother's washcloth. When my great-grandmother died, we were cleaning out her house and trying to organize some of the craft things she'd left, and we came upon several garbage bags' worth of yarn and half-finished and a few finished projects. One of them was a half-done washcloth in a purple/blue/lavender Peaches n' Cream cotton with one row done in an off-white. My mother looked at it and said "Too bad it wasn't finished." and sighed, so I took it from her and looked at the pattern, and realized it was the same one I'd used to make a baby blanket a couple years ago, so I told her "I could finish it for you." and did.
It was definitely a moving experience, finishing Grandma's work. It turns out we had the exact same gauge, and I was able to use her needles for the whole rest of it. It's an interesting thing to look at for me, the way it's two colors like it is. It's almost like she left it waiting for me...her half, and mine. I love the idea that I was able to help that little piece of her live on like that.
[end of original post]I also was lucky enough to get to keep the needles from that one, and a set of 10.5, 8" DPNs made of...something I'm not sure of. I'm thinking they might actually be an old set of Baleens or something close. It means a lot to me to have been able to do that; to have a part of her so meaningful to both of us that will be used and not just looked at. Every once in a while, I go over to the jar I keep my straights in and just...hold them for a while. I miss her, I do; and while we weren't really especially close, her absence is something I can't help but notice.
My Gramma, her oldest daughter, also gave me many of her old patterns and Workbasket issues, and I treasure those like little else I've owned. I've gotten gifts made from some of those patterns, and now I can give them, maybe make some for the great-grandchild that will do the same when I have passed.
Thank you, Grandma, for giving me this opportunity.
