Needles, Socks, and Passing the Torch
I and my munchkins are over our colds (DH didn’t get it, thank heavens!). Now it’s ragweed season, though, and my oldest is suffering from allergies, my poor girl 
Let’s see…what’s new? Oh yes! I got my new
Harmony needles from KnitPicks today and they’re soooo pretty! I only ordered one set of size 2 dpn’s to try them out and I LOVE THEM! They’re very, very smooth (smoother than bamboo) and the pointy ends are nice for sock knitting.
And speaking of sock knitting, I mentioned before I’d ordered Favorite Socks by Interweave, and I’ve started making some socks out of it, for my youngest girl, with the orange Lisa Souza yarn I bought a few months ago. I’m making the 
Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt. I’m through the first repeat of the pattern and I’m loving it! The leaves are turning out great, the pattern is easy, and I learned a (new-to-me) 1X1 rib cast-on that is so elastic that I have to do this for all my socks from now on that I knit from the cuff down!
And…speaking of my youngest daughter…who is only just turned 7 very recently…she just learned to knit and took to it like a fish takes to water! She told me a few days ago she wanted to learn to knit and I said when I felt better, I’d start her knitting. Well, yesterday, she was bored, so I suggested she learn to knit… I gave her some size 10 1/2 needles and some “practice yarn” i.e. old acrylic I have in my stash, and she did great!Even the long-tail cast-on she mastered in five minutes! I am so proud of her (happy clapping ensues)! Then, tonight, she got a little frustrated with her work, pulled it out and set it aside and said, “Mommy, I don’t think I want to knit.” Fine with me, I tell her. But, before she can take off, though, I tell her to re-wind her yarn mess and put it away and the needles, too… and as she’s putting the yarn away, she finds two size 3 DPNs I’ve got in a sewing basket. Isn’t it crazy where your DPNs end up?Anyway, she picks them up…and the light clicks on! She gets this bright look on her face and she goes, “Oooooo….I wonder, if I had these needles and some smaller yarn…” And she’s saying this more to herself than to me, so I get up and give her some sock yarn I bought a while back. (that just wasn’t the color of orange I wanted so I’ve never made anything with it and it’s only one skein, so I may never, I don’t know, whatever) Back to my story… She sits down with that yarn and those little needles, and starts casting on (like a pro that’s been doing this for a couple of years or so), goes to knitting away quite happy now, then shows me her first four rows and I’m blown away with the perfection of tension this little girl is getting in her knitting! I tell her how great her stitches look, and how she needs to make more of this, like maybe blankets for her dolls, or something and she gets this little smirk on her face, like she’s already been thinking of stuff to make and says, “I’ll think of something…” Very cute.
I was just blown away at how good she is at this! I’ll post pics when she gets some more done. It’s just awesome. I keep thinking about what I heard on a podcast recently ( I can’t remember which one, there’s so many I listen to now), about how historically, fiber arts have had a twenty year cycle. Twenty years it’s gun-ho and then it’s quiet for twenty and then it bursts out again. I know we are experiencing a boom in people knitting and crocheting right now, but I think about that twenty year lull that may happen, and I wonder if it’s just the fact that we don’t pass it on to our kids and try to make it a part of their life that’s enjoyable and something they’ll want to do later on. I want to pass the torch, so to speak, and encourage the next generation to continue this, because it is (in my opinion) so vital to our culture and it’s a really good thing for so many reasons.
I hope I’m not boring someone to tears that has read this whole post, if so, sorry about that, grab some yarn and needles, (or hook) get to working on something and you’ll feel better. I know I do….
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In our family it is really funny… My great grandma did both knit and crochet… My grandma just crocheted (she taught me when I was like 4 or 5). My mom just kitted and had stopped by the time I was born, I believe she has the oldest UFO ever at 30 years or so… I was an avid crocheter in highschool (I got made fun of at Govenor’s School for Arts and Humanitites when I crocheted a baby blanket for my hope chest) I kinda petered our for a while in college because of time, but last year after a few attempts in knitting over the years I finally got it while I was in the hospital. I love it, actually I have only crocheted a few things in the last year; mostly for my grandmother (the blanket I promised her when I was 8). Everything else has been knitting. I love both they are great ways to relieve stress… I would hate to see yarn craft be less popular again, but at the same time, those of us that know and love it won’t lose interest when the lull comes again and many of our kids that are starting young will phase in and out but if they really love it now as they get older, they will love it even more.
That’s neat about the ladies in your family. You’re right they’ll love it even more and keep on knitting or crocheting.
I guess it bummed me out a little thinking it would cool off eventually.