I love the beginning of a project. Which may explain why I am in some stage of five different projects right now. I love picking the yarn, reminding myself of all the beautiful yarn that I own. I love pulling out the swift and winder and seeing how different the yarn looks once it is caked from the skein.
I'm working now on a quick project, baby booties. They are kind of a surprise, but if the Mom pops in here and figures out that they are for her, well worse things have happened.
I am making "Christine's Baby Booties" that have an interesting story behind them. The pattern can be found here. But on the pattern page it talks about a woman named Christine Bourquin who wrote a letter to the editor of a knitting magazine in 1989 explaining that she was, at that time, 95 years old, and she knew that her time knitting on this earth was almost over. She wanted her pattern for baby booties to live on and the pattern and her story were published in the magazine.
I wonder how many countless pairs she made over her long life, how many grandchildren's baby toes were warmed in her booties. I marvel at how at 95 she was still able to make them, probably from memory and perhaps with failing eyesight, she made those tiny shoes using the familiar movements that had been imprinted on her brain and in her fingers from decades of kntting.
This blanket was made by my own great grandmother, my Nanny, only a few
years before Christine had sent her letter to the editor. Knowing that
she was nearing 90 and her eyesight was failing she wanted to make something for her two great grand-daughters
while she still could, for us to always have a part of her. Her
daughter, my Mimi, gave them to us when she thought we were were old enough
to care for them. And for many years my Mom held on to these while my
sister and I were in college and then venturing out on our own. I now
have mine in my own home.
The blankets that she made for us are not unlike the many lap blankets that she would always have with her as she played store with us, listened to our endless chatter or watched her stories on tv. I remember thinking years ago why did she pick those colors? But perhaps the bright colors were easier to see, easier to recognize the lace pattern when her eyes were not what they once were.
I love that I have this, but since I have started to knit I have a new appreciation for it, realizing all the love that goes into each and every stitch, understanding now how many hours are spent thinking of the recipient as the project takes shape.
I hope that this new little person that wears the booties that I am making is warmed by all the good thoughts being knit into them. Now time to start on the second one.