I would like to write a post in tribute to my mother who passed away one year ago this week. My love of knitting and creating in general I have realized this past year was passed down to me from my mother. This past year I have remembered that my mom was always doing something creative. She was always trying out a new "craft" of some kind, whether it involved ribbon, yarn, or even making a new recipe. Over the years I also have done many different types of crafts: cross-stitching, basket-weaving, scrapbooking, making books, knitting, baking, etc. (Yes, I consider baking crafty, especially when trying out new recipes). Now that I am knitting almost exclusively, it helps me to remember my mom. Everytime I pick up my needles to work on a project, I can remember my mom teaching me how to knit when I was a child. She always made me undo my knitting when we discovered a mistake. I hated that and everytime I have to do it today I can still hear her saying, "If you are going to do it, you have to do it right."
Another thing my mother passed down to me is my love of vintage items and antiques. The photo above shows my newest interest: vintage potholders. Yes, I am now collecting old potholders!! I saw an idea in a magazine showing these displayed on a wall. I already had four vintage potholders and purchased two more at an antique store in Cheyboygan, Michigan, while on vacation. The blue/orange potholder on the right was given to me from a woman I walk with a few times a week. She said it was from the 1920's. Luckily, these will be a fairly inexpensive thing to collect. My mom loved antiques and was always going to antique auctions and stores. So happily, I have many daily reminders of my mom. Thanks mom for teaching me to be creative.
I have been working on Chloe, the doll on the front cover that goes along with Spud the sheep. The two brown blobs on the right are what I have knitted so far. The large brown blob is the body and the smaller brown blob is the head. Seriously?? Look how big the head is compared to the body. I do have to cover the top with hair, but am I going to have a doll that will tip over because her head is so big???? We'll see! I decided while knitting Chloe that I needed to also be working on something pretty. So I started (and finished) the Quincy hat. I loved knitting the hat because you knit an I-Cord on each side. I've never done that before. The yarn is beautiful and soft. But, alas, I don't like the hat. It's sort of big. Supposedly a man can wear this hat as well. I know Ron would never wear it! I guess I will just have to give it to the Coat Giveaway program at our church. My projects this week will be to: 1. Finish the Chloe doll 2. Continue to work on the Chicory scarf I started (again because I needed to work on something besides brown blobs!).
