This is part of my "recovered holiday memories" series. I have a feeling these will be popping up periodically until November of next year. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Let's all knit a sweater!
Last September, before A1 left for England, A1, A3 and I decided to have a mother/daughter(s) knit a long. We decided on a whim, but the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea. The project combined everything I love about knitting. We would be connected through our mutual love of making, our efforts to knit the same pattern and through the finished project, our "matching" sweaters. At that time, I was extremely (that's putting it a bit mildly) concerned about staying connected. A1 was the first child to leave the "nest" and she really flew, all the way to England. I was not only concerned about my connection to her but about A3's connection to her as well. This seemed like the perfect idea.
Of course, there is a huge difference between idea and implementation. It all started out just fine. Who doesn't love the beginning of a project? We chose a pattern, Hannah Fettig's Medium Weight Pullover. It's top down, so it finishes quickly. This was an important consideration for the youngest knitter. Plus, this one has such a fresh style that it appealed to all of us.
Next came the yarn. Turns out we all have a similar taste for the beautiful and were drawn to the MadelineTosh Vintage. We had some differing opinions on color but settled on a purple theme. A1 chose Flashdance with Lepidoptra accents. A3 and I chose Cathedral. It's not something I would normally wear but she wanted to match. I was not about to argue. My 13 yr old wanted to knit a matching sweater with her mother! Who knows when THAT might happen again?
Then came the knitting. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they knit, and all of our personalities came out. A1 proceeded to go at it with the nervous tension of a girl leaving home for the first time, exacerbated by the delay of her visa. That translated into her not only finishing this sweater in a week but also sewing a skirt, a shirt and knitting two more sweaters before she left.
A3 and I were left feeling a bit behind at this point. I'm a fairly quick knitter and have trained myself over the years to keep at it. But, as you know, I am also easily distracted by new ideas and loads of other projects. I made steady progress however and finished mine somewhere in November. That puts us at two out of three.
A3 loves the idea of things but has a little trouble on the follow through with longer projects. It's to be expected. EXCEPT when her mother has the image of the "perfect" picture of all of us wearing our Mother/ Daughter(s) Knit A Long sweaters. Of course, that picture is hard to get when one of the sweaters, along with it's knitter, is in another country and is only going to be home for a week over Christmas!
So, welcome to knitting boot-camp! A3 had the pleasure of being asked on a daily basis how her knitting was going. We had long discussions about how you just have to keep at it, bit by bit, but "Faster, PLEASE". In retrospect this might not have been the best way to encourage her love of knitting. Thankfully, it hasn't turned her completely off the craft. She's knitting a cowl now, with absolutely NO pressure. I hope I have learned my lesson. Maybe you can remind me the next time something like this happens.
I did get my picture.
Even though the process was a little stressful for all of us, we are enjoying our sweaters and our connection to each other.
(Picture courtesy of Yarn.com)
