Knitting Tales

I made these mitts for Devon about two years ago. I decided that she was old enough to appreciate nice things, so I knit them out of an incredible merino cashmere blend. Devon wore them a lot. I mean a lot! This winter, I noticed that she wasn't wearing them even when it got really cold and she was complaining about freezing. Last week, Devon asked me if I could wash her mitts. I always hand wash good yarns even if they are supposed to be superwash just in case. One of the mitts was pretty dirty, like dropped on the ground while camping dirty. Only I hadn't seen Devon wear them in a long time, so I wasn't sure how they got so dirty. As I was washing them, Devon came in to see if they were alright and finally spilled the story. It seems that sometime last quarter, Devon wore the mitts to school. Partway through the day she took them off and put them in her car and then couldn't find one of them. She was afraid that she had thrown it away when she cleaned out her car or that maybe she had dropped it at school. So, she put the other mitt away and decided not to tell me she had lost one. Last week, she was coming home from school and ran over the mitt in the driveway. Now, the mitt had not been in the driveway all winter long. One, we would have noticed it laying there, unless, two, an animal ran off with it and chewed it up. The mitt was in very good , albeit very dirty, condition, so I'm pretty sure it hadn't been a squirrel bed all winter. My best guess is that it was hiding somewhere in her car and fell out when the boys helped her clean it a few days before she found it again, but Devon said she tore the whole car apart looking for it and is sure it wasn't in her car. So, where was the mitt all winter? No one knows and the mitt isn't telling.

Some close ups of the mitt because I'm really proud of this one.

This hat also has a story. Only we know pretty much exactly how it's story goes, no mystery here. I made this hat for Cameron since Boy Scouts go camping in all sorts of weather. That means that my boys need nice wool earflap hat to keep warm. This was the first time I had ever followed a pattern chart, so I was very proud of this knit too even though I pulled my strands a little too tight keeping the top of the hat from stretching as much as the bottom. Cameron chose the yarn himself and loved the finished hat. So he wore it to a camping trip in the mountains and on the second day, realized that he didn't know where his hat was. So, he tore apart his bag and searched his tent, still no hat. The hat was finally found in the DIRT ROAD leading into their site. In the mud, after having been run over by several trucks and trailers. Amazingly enough, although the hat was extremely dirty ( Devon's mitt times 12) the only parts that were ruined were the ties and the crochet edging. None of the rest of the hat was damaged! I was able to take off the edging and redo it and add new ties and the hat is as good as new. Cameron has been wearing it regularly ever since. Although he has been a little more careful with it since then.

Today, we noticed that the dress Brenna was wearing had a string hanging from it. Brenna has caught her dresses on things before and I've had to fix some snags, so I assumed that's what happened this time. Only this "snag" isn't quite so fixable. It has been pulled about 1/4 of the way around the whole dress and one of the three strands of yarn broke completely. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to fix this one yet. I might have to undo the bottom few rows and re knit. I think I have a little bit of this yarn left over, but I decided that I'm going to put it away for a few days before I work on it.

In this picture, you can see the difference in the edging where the yarn got pulled.

Why do I continue to knit for my family when so many things get damaged? These are only a few examples, just off hand I can think of a mitt that mysteriously got cut and several pairs of longies that don't have knees anymore. I'm sure there are other things that have been lost or ruined that no one has told me about. I love to knit! I love my family! So, I love to knit for my family. Yes, sometimes things get lost or destroyed, BUT, what that means is that my family enjoys the things I make. That they wear them and use them. I don't really want to knit (or crochet) things no one likes enough to actually use. I don't want to put tons of time, money, and energy into making things that will never be worn. Things that get used a lot wear out, or get broken, or get lost. That's just how it works. Sometimes I get a little sad when something I've worked that hard on get ruined, but at least that means it is getting used and appreciated. To me that is the greatest compliment!