Granny's Knitting

As I have taken up knitting again recently, and as it has become more popular globally, I find that the most common inspiration for people my age and younger to knit is "because my grandma was the most amazing knitter." Even my favourite knitting site is dedicated to a grandma.

For me, I've been through this story many times: my Granny tried to teach me but I just wasn't into it. Then my mother tried; no luck either. Then I learned while in England -- bought a whole sweater kit and never even finished the back -- and forgot soon after. Finally, I did manage to teach myself from books and have come to the conclusion that, like sewing, I can happily do the basic-to-intermediate stuff, but don't throw any complex stuff in because I will just get frustrated.

There's a whole school of thought out there that knitting skipped a generation because of Women's Liberation. Of course it didn't skip a generation in my family.... but yeah, I guess that some of the "supermoms" out there who were trying to do everything did not want to knit. More likely I think, especially in North America was the trend toward anything "instant" -- if you could microwave dinner, why the heck would you want to make your own clothes? This is in fact exactly why I wanted to learn knitting, as part of a bid to be self-sufficient by age 30. OK, so I am past 30 and I am not self-sufficient, but I think that I could do OK cut off from society once I got past withdrawal from the internet (hee-hee).

Anyway, my Granny knit all the time. She would sit and watch soaps, and whip up a pair of slippers pretty much while-you-were-waiting -- in fact it is one of my clearest memories of her.