Knitting Memories Together

As we arrived at the waterfront, the yarn shop called to me from across the street. I felt compelled to go inside and once I did: what a delight. It had been years since such colours and textures had surrounded me! It was as if my mother were beside me oohing and ahhing over each exotic skein and prompting me to rememember long-forgotten words like boucle. As she was fond of unusual textures and effects, I knew she would be especially delighted by some of the newer styles. However, my mom was not a knitter, per se. She was what one might describe as a textile needlecraft artist.

Her love affair with fabric, threads and yarn was so tightly woven into my adolescence that sometimes I wonder how much her enthusiasm has coloured my own. Parents do that, don't they. Mom's enthusiasm took her out of a stitchery class taken to pass the time and into a business of her own which became one of my stepping stones into the wider world. The family liked to say that hers was a cottage industry success story. It literally began at the kitchen table (and under and around almost everything in the house) until it expanded out into its own premises - and eventually into a small warehouse which shipped internationally...even to Australia!


Mom and my little sister on the cover of her catalog.

I stitched up models to sell for shop displays at school (when my classwork was done), enlisting several friends to help. Eventually, I worked with Mom on designs and created her pattern books. Best of all, I went with her to the major national needlework retailer markets. New York, Chicago, San Fransicso, Dallas, Atlanta, and learned sales and marketing techniques from her salesmen. All very exciting for that time in my young life. Surrounded at these markets by other creative entreprenureal men and women was incredibly impacting and rather daunting, too!

By the time I left for Art School I had this wealth of experience behind me, however, I had mixed emotions about it. At art school there was a higher polish, a more professional edge that seemed to look down its nose at the craft industry. To this day I still feel the conflict of the chasm between them - and to some degree feel as though I fell into it and am still searching for my own toe-holds.

But inside this shop and its homely world of spun wool, clicking needles and cozy garments and wraps it didn't matter. This was the world I grew up in. This was the picture I had of creative womanhood. Making things with our hands - both practical and fun.

As I grew a bit older the 'homemade' feel of our home began to embarrass me. I wanted our home to be more sophisticated like those of my friends. Of course, most enjoyed the creative atmosphere of our home, and as time passed my appreciation of these hand crafts increased. Not many children grow up today watching their mother's or grandmother's hands generate something beautiful from a ball of yarn, holding up their arms to help untangle skeins. (Anyone else remember doing that?) My mom even raised a crop of cotton in a backyard garden and spun it on her own spinning wheel to use in a project. She was passionate. There was something magical about watching her finger a project - like a blind person lovingly remembering every detail.



All this to say that when I arrived in Australia as a new bride with very few possessions from my previous 30 years, I cried unashamedly when a rolled package arrived a few weeks later. Inside was this tapestry that I had 'assisted' my mom to create during my High School years. It won Best of Show in its hey day and then had kept watch over our family dinner table. Now it was mine. A wedding gift from my mom. A voice from my past and from my mother's hand.

So, as I spent last week with my knitting needles and so many memories of my Mom and her creative world, I took solace in knowing that, at the very least, I created my own scarf for the winter months ahead. Did Mom smile on this effort? Maybe. But she probably would have also been saying, "now toss the directions and do it YOUR way!"

The clever Woven Scarf pattern in top photo is from Stitches 'n' Things - the shop we stumbled across at Lakes Entrance, Victoria a couple weeks ago. A simple pattern with an interesting effect! Perfect getting re-acquainted project for me during our recent holiday - especially as I wound up ill and stayed indoors a lot. Now to finish the next one, and the other three for which I bought yarn!