My Mother Was a Great Knitter

  She learned to knit as a child from her sister who was 15 years older.

  I remember a beautiful sweater that my mother knit for me when I was in first grade.  It was burgundy and had colorful embroidered flowers on it.  I loved it and remember proudly wearing it to school.  That sweater is long gone, but I think that one day my memory of it could inspire a design.

  Another favorite, knit by my mom, was a beautiful short sleeved cotton sweater with bluebell flowers knit into it.  It was a deep rich blue, but it faded, as cotton will, when worn and washed so very many times.  I kept it for many years after its loss of color, thinking that I would dye it one day.  I cannot find it anywhere, so I must have let it go during one of my rare "you can't keep everything" moods.   

  This simple gray vest has four buttons and buttonholes on each side.  The stitch pattern is the trinity stitch and the yarn is fairly fine, probably a sport weight.
  It goes with everything, and I wore it so much that it has a little hole in the front.  I might be able to repair it, but I know it would be a little small.

  I have worn the pink sweater only a handful of times.  It is truely lovely, but has a very wide collar, or a very wide sort-of-a-collar-thing.
  Sometimes it happens that we love someone, and love something that we make for them to wear; and the someone loves us back, and loves the thing that was made, but the actual wearing-of-it just does not happen a whole lot.
  My mother first taught me to knit when I was seven.  I knit a small garter stitch square from a colorful 'ombre' yarn.  I folded it diagonally and made a kerchief for my Barbie doll.  (I do not remember how often Barbie wore that kerchief.)

I do miss sitting and knitting with my mother.