I've taken a fairly extended break from blogging (and Instagram if you follow me there as well), and I've decided to ease my way back into a regular schedule by posting about a rather sentimental project that I've been working on over the past few weeks.
My grandmother is a knitter, and has been since well before I was born. She knit many things for her grandchildren over the years, and there is a wonderful picture of several of us lined up on a couch (ranging in age from six months to six years old), all wearing a garment that she knitted for us. She has kept every knitting pattern she has ever purchased, meaning that she had all of the original patterns for those garments in the picture. When I was visiting her a couple of years ago after she had suffered a fairly serious arm injury, she told me that she was likely not going to be able to knit again, and offered me any of her patterns that I would like to keep, as I am the only one of the grandchildren who knits. I had the brilliant idea to find the patterns for each of those special garments from the picture, and to knit a version for the children of that particular cousin.
[Image description: A photograph of an old pattern booklet resting on top of a multicoloured sweater, against a wooden laminate floor. The booklet features an image of a young white girl with brown hair wearing a grey yoked sweater with colourwork sheep. The sweater it is resting on is striped in bright yellow, dark green, bright blue, and red, separated by dark grey bands.]
Over two years later, I am finally getting around to beginning this project. I chose to start with the sweater that my older brother was wearing, over thirty years ago. He was two years old in the picture, and his son is now two himself, which seems like perfect timing. I believe the original was knit in Patons Candiana Sayelle, which is a now discontinued line of year. However, I believe it was directly succeeded by Patons Canadiana, as I was able to find yarn colours that appear to exactly match the colours of the original sweater. I showed the WIP to my parents recently, and asked them if they recognized it. My mother immediately knew which sweater it was based on, and my father recognized it but wasn't sure where from. I'll take that a sign that my version is spot on! I won't include the original photos here for privacy reasons, but I will send a copy with the finished sweater when I ship it to my nephew. Once that is done, I am going to take a break to work on other projects, but next on the list to receive one of the family sweaters will be one of my cousins. Most of the cousins in the picture already have children, some of whom are older than their parent was in the photo. One of those cousins passed away many years ago, but I am planning on knitting a version of the dress she was wearing for her younger sister's children, when that day comes.
[Image description: A photograph of a white person's hand holding a pattern booklet open to a page with several sample photos, including one of a young child wearing a striped raglan sweater in pastel shades of grey, blue, pink, purple, and yellow. In the background is a matching WIP in different colours, the same one pictured above.]
Have you ever embarked on a project like this one? It feels like I am calling on the traditions and history of my family, and connecting past with present. It makes me think of the cycle and rhythms of life, how the small children sitting on that couch are now grown with small children of their own. I see my grandmother working on these garments for her grandchildren, and I can imagine myself one day knitting for my own grandchildren. I find it very grounding and comforting to imagine this cycle stretching out in time, both before I was here and after I am gone.