From the 1,000th Hill No. 26 I love Knitting

I love knitting.

My father taught my sister and I to knit when we were about 5 or 6.

We were talking the other day, and she remembered !

He got some needles and string, and we knitted very uneven and holey dishcloths for Mummy to use, and, bless her, she did.

I then went on to knit clothes for my dolls, and remember fondly a fairisle jumper I made, which has got lost in the mists of time.

As I told you in FTH 4, my grandmothers were both wonderful needlewomen.

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Every year, my mother’s mother would knit jerseys for her 9 grandchildren for Christmas.

She had been a ladies companion in her teens and twenties, and always dressed in her hand knitted twinsets and pearls. Her mannerisms taught us how to behave as genteely as possible.

I don’t think I knitted much in my teens, but I do remember knitting a black dress when I was about 17.

In my twenties, not much either, but I still have a couple of crop tops I knitted in those days.

Fast forward to my children. I crocheted a lot of blankets, but don’t remember knitting anything – John’s mother was an avid knitter and made jerseys for them.

When we were ‘on the road’ I would have a crochet project, with the hook held at the ready to use as a weapon should a stray hand come in the window !!

Then came the turn of the century. The children had flown the nest, our work was slowing down and I had to do something with my hands. This opened a floodgate of creativity making beanies, socks, scarves and ‘dickies’ at first.

Then, I tackled more ambitious projects, like Thomas the Tank Engine and, lately, Fortnite ( worked out the logo on graph paper ) jerseys for our grandson.

Now, I always have one or two projects ‘on the go’ from knitted garments for the family, to making dolls clothes for Claire ( another article to follow ).

Like many knitters, I often take a pattern and adapt it for fun.

My problem has been that I cannot afford to buy the right amounts of wool every time.

My dear friends know that I love knitting, and, when they have finished projects, are kind enough to give me their ‘leftovers’ hence we all have ‘coats of many colours’ !!

These days I will knit something very simple – tons of two needle socks, but then tackle something really lacy, like the cover photo, and this, that needs a lot of concentration in between.

The main thing is that I am having such fun, and always have a lovely creation to show for my time.

Love, always,

Mim

xx