Reflection

     Kind of lonely, my cats are visiting their grandparents.  I have nothing fuzzy to cuddle with, the mice don't really count since they don't hold still very well.  Anyway that's neither here nor there.  I was thinking on my drive home from work about the history of knitting in my family.  Both my grandmothers knit and crocheted.  My paternal grandmother still does both which is what got me back into knitting the Christmas before last.  My mom used to knit like crazy for myself and brother.  She evidently did alot of consignment knitting before I remember too for some extra income.  (My parents are dairy farmers.)  I have several aunts who also used to knit and one who still does.  My great-aunts still knit as far as I know, so needless to say it's a pretty rich family history.  I was officially taught to knit when I was 10 or 11.  I distinctly remember knitting a dishcloth, maybe two.  Then a pink scarf to match the pink hat mom had made me.  I still have the scarf and that hat, somewhere, I should probably find that.  The dishcloths I'm sure were used and worn out several years ago.  So, as I said, it was my paternal grandmother who got me back into knitting.  For Christmas two years ago now, she made everyone sewn pillowcases and a dishcloth angel.  The angel was just a regular diagonal square dishcloth that gets tied to look like and angel.  I brought my gift home and sat it under the tree and that dishcloth stared at me for at least a week.  I finally looked at it one day and said to the cats, I can do that.  So on a trip to Walmart I ventured back into the craft section and found the cotton and needles.  I called my mom just to confirm I had the right cotton and US6 would be about right.  I bought one pair of US6 needles and two skeins of cotton, one blue and one variegated, went home tied a slip knot and stared at the needles.....  Mom always did the cast on for me.  So, I waited 'til the next time I went to visit my parents and had mom show me how to cast on.  I made my first cloth that looked like a kite and haven't put down the needles since.  It took me a bit, but I got the dishcloths to come out square, tightened up my gauge and then started branching out.  At some point I found out there are videos on the Internets, which is awesome!  Almost every project I do now is to learn a new skill.  Currently I'm attempting lace and its not going well.  I kind of think its because my family doesn't knit lace.  My grandmother and great-grandmother crochet lace but not knit that I am aware of.  So my genetic memory is at a loss for the lace....  There is my sci-fi bit for this post.  Now that I am knitting myself I have alot greater respect for all the gifts I've been given over the years.  Its alot of work, and I know there is alot of love in there.  I have always cherished the items I have from my great-grandmother, I hold everything so much more dear now.  So that's my reason for knitting, because I can, because its gratifying and because I need to preserve a family legacy.  Also because there are Star Trek patterns....  That's actually the real reason, because I'm a geek and can be uber geeky with my knitting....