Mittens and more

So, I’m knitting again. The desire to knit grabs me, usually when I have a million other things to do, and I dig out the wool and the needles and find a project. The other day, when I decided I really wanted – no needed – to knit something, I scrounged around to see what, in my closet full of loose ends of fabric and wool, I could come up with.

I settled on thrummed mittens. Not that I need mittens, but somebody surely must. The thing is, I knit so many pairs of thrummed mittens a few years ago that I’m sure I could knit them in my sleep. So, until I settle on a larger project, mittens it is.

Most of my knitting projects have turned out well. I started knitting at an early age and there isn’t much that intimidates me when it comes to following a pattern although my long gaps between projects seem to have been triggered by large projects that make me think I’ll never want to knit again. My knitting eyes are usually much bigger than my stomach, so to speak. I’ve rarely given up on a project, but it takes me awhile to start another.

Point in question – my husband’s Irish knit sweater, knit lovingly by me over thirty years ago, which, btw he’s rarely worn. He warned me in advance that he wasn’t a sweater kind of guy but I knit it anyway. He still has it in the bottom of a drawer somewhere – saving it for a special occasion, I guess. Anyway, after finishing it, it was quite awhile before I took on another project.

Then there was the baby shawl for my now grown baby daughter. My mom knit shawls for my older two babies but when the third was anticipated a few years later, her eyes were failing and she wasn’t able to do it. (Or maybe she was still tapped out from the previous one.) Anyway, this baby had to have a shawl so I found a lovely lacy pattern and started knitting. I knit and I knit and I knit. I finished before baby arrived and the shawl was beautiful, white, delicate – a masterpiece. I didn’t knit anything again for about four years.

Not over the Irish knit bug, I decided several years ago to knit myself a beautiful, complicated sweater, advanced level, Vogue pattern. I asked the “expert” at a local wool shop to help me find the appropriate yarn and I stared knitting. It took me forever. When it was done, I put it together. I don’t know why I never realized the gauge was off while I was knitting, but the sweater turned out big enough to fit the Pillsbury dough boy. Never worn and off the donations bag it went. Took me awhile to knit again after that one too.

I’ve knit a lot of slippers, hats, kids sweaters over the years but it’s the huge ones that throw me off. The arrival of grandchildren was inspiring and the first couple received tons of little bitty sweaters, booties etc. – such fun to knit. But I petered out. And there are several grandkids with nothing hand-knit by grandma. Maybe I should rectify that. Maybe if the mitten initiative continues, they’ll get mittens someday. Maybe not.