Thursday, April 08, 2010

Gloves and Mittens . . .

Yesterday, Mom and I did something we've been wanting to do for quite a while.  We went to visit my great-aunt Stella, my grandmother's sister.  The love of knitting runs through my family, from Grammy and Aunt Stella to me.  I don't ever remember Grammy not having a WIP in her knitting basket and she knit every night while watching TV.  Even after more than eight years, I have her last project, still on the needles, just as she left it when she passed.  Aunt Stella is just as good a knitter as her sister was.  I'll always regret that I didn't take up knitting until after Grammy was gone.  But you might remember that Aunt Stella gave me my first knitting advice (sort of) when I was just starting out.

So yesterday, I picked out some of my best projects and we headed over for a visit.  She inspected my Olympic Hat, Sunrise Circle, Clapotis, Hypoteneuse and Kiri closely.  And to my surprise, she was quite impressed!  She admitted to always looking for mistakes when she looks at other people's knitting, but she couldn't find any in mine.  (Although I know if she looked harder she would have found plenty.)  We had a lovely afternoon chatting about knitting, crocheting and other non-fibery topics (so my mom wouldn't feel left out - because in my family, the knit-love skips a generation).  And look what she gave me!!


An old, errr "vintage", book of mitten and glove patterns.  According to the cover, you can "knit and crochet for the entire family".  Did you get a look at the price.  Thirty-five cents!  Funny, huh?  It's true that some patterns are timeless.  I've fallen in love with this one and am definitely going to give it a try.


It seems so cool to me how some things change but so many things don't.  Aunt Stella could never have dreamed of the knitting apps I have on my iPhone.  But a knitting booklet that is easily older than I am still has patterns today's knitter would want to knit.  It really is a timeless art.  Although some patterns?  Some patterns are best left behind . . .


I joked to my mom that I'd be knitting these up for her birthday gift - but truth be told, this pattern will never see my needles.  Those freaking scary clowns remind me of something out of a Stephen King novel!!

9 comments:

Ann said...

Ahh!
Those are scary clowns!
Poltergeist is was turned me against clowns. "It" just reinforced the feeling (TV movie not book).

JelliDonut said...

I love those blue mittens. I think a demented mind could really do something cool with those clown mittens. Hmmm...

Marissa said...

I've always had a thing about clowns, and I love me the Horror Movies! Those clowns, they get me every time. And little dolls. (I'm a therapists dream!)

sara said...

Those clown mittens are scary! *shudder*

Julie said...

The blue and white mittens are fab! I can't wait to see those knit up.

Zonda said...

How cool to get that book! Yeah..those last mittens are a bit..well kinda ugly LOL!

It's really great how the knitting genes has passed down in your family. Mine is the crafty one, but I think with skipping my daughter though.

knitseashore said...

Those vintage patterns are so fun! I can totally see you and Sonya redesigning those clowns into something subversive and fun, LOL.

Jennifer said...

I love this pattern book. I have a reprinted version - that cost more than 35 cents. It's got some great basic patterns to use over and over. I love it. Updating for a whiz like you should be no problem. Just update clowns with skulls and crossbones. Who would have thought that we would come to that?

Anonymous said...

cece in the UP of Michigsn, My mom left me the very same knitting booklet, I remember well, her knitting mittens and gloves for me. I found another one in a junk shop and sent to a daughter in Melbourne. It IS a wonderful booklet. Nice to see someone else using it.

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