Knitting

I recently read an article about the history of knitting and way back when, it was understood that part of a woman's dowry was her ability to knit clothing and blankets for the family and to be able to instruct and oversee the servant's knitting. A wife's knowledge of knitting was not a hobby but a necessity.


Visit Of The Angels by
Master Bertram of Minden

There is a famous Alter piece called Visit Of The Angels by Master Bertram of Minden in the year 1390. The Knitting Madonna is shown picking up stitches and shaping the neckline of a garment.

My paternal grandmother was a knitter as were my aunts and cousins on my father's side. They were proficient at all the needle crafts and my sisters, Adeline, Esther and I learned a lot from them.

But I did not learn to knit until my husband and I lived at Stanford Village at the end of WII. A neighbor had a baby the same age as mine and one day I saw her knitting a baby sweater. I asked her to show me how to knit one. It was knitted from the top down, so all the sweaters I have knitted have been knitted that way. I have never knitted one requiring seams.

Recently my sister, Esther, and I have been knitting up a storm. It had been some time since either of us had knitted anything. We had been occupied with beading projects and sewing muumuus. Before that, quilting. Even as we work on our current knitting projects, we both have unfinished quilting projects waiting for us.

I am contemplating the knitting of a blanket. My daughter has asked me to knit one for her. It seems a daunting task, but the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to knit it. I like to do my own designing, but the trick is to come up with an idea that will make the work interesting and yet simple enough so that it won't take years to finish. When I know what it is, I'll post it on my blog.