Knitting for the Worthy

In my mind, everyone should be worthy of beautiful, hand knit goods.  The reality is some people just aren't worth it.  Some people just don't appreciate a hand made gift and would honestly much prefer something simple, like a gift card, or something they've truly wanted, like a video game.  I've had to learn to distinguish between the people who really deserve my hard work, and those who don't.  It's taken me a while, but I've decided there are some people I'm just never going to knit for.

As it so happens, one of these people is not my sister.  I picked up knitting when I was pregnant with my second child.  I'd lived near home, but life circumstances kept me away from my family.  I'll be honest, those early projects probably wouldn't have earned the love of my sister.  She'd probably have hated those early projects, made with cheap craft store yarn, simply because I didn't know what quality yarn was at the time.  I love my sister, but she's a bit of a snob when it comes to garments.  They have to be nice, fashionable, and very wearable.  Back in the early days of knitting, that's simply not what I would have had to offer.

After my son was born, it took me almost 8 years to get back to the point where I was near my family.  By then my sister was busy, especially with my mom having been in an unfortunate accident (and I mean that honestly, not in the "accidental" in quotes kind of way).  We hadn't really seen each other, yet I had promised her knits, and I would deliver.

My sister is one of those types that would be any knitters dream.  She loves lace.  She's not afraid to hand wash garments even socks.  Colors hold a special place for her, and she can appreciate the textures and the beauty almost as well as I can.  I say almost because she hasn't had the kind of exposure to yarn the way I have.  It's a different relationship when worked by your own hands.  Even so, she finds it beautiful.  I simply had to knit for her for Christmas this year (though this may be bumped up to her fast approaching birthday).  I knew I had to make her something special, so using the pattern I designed, that seemed like the logical option.

I have to admit, I'm not entirely a fan of how the colors played out.  I had imagined them being a bit more of a central balance.  I had to work with the yarn, matching up scraps to get the striping just right.  This was for my sister, who is every bit as much of a snob in my mind, at least when it comes to beautiful crafts, as I am.

To be fair, she probably would have loved them eve if they didn't so perfectly match.  That is my own personal bias on hand crafts.  Still, these would be her first knitted gift, so they had to be perfect.   They had to be just the way I saw them in my mind.  First impressions count for quite a bit, after all!

I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  Not only is this a chance to rekindle our relationship as sisters, but it's a chance for me to share something I think she'll really, truly love.  It's something special we can share, since I know she'll truly love them, and if I make her knits year after year, she'll continue to wear them until they wear out, or her closet is bursting with them, whichever comes first.

This is all going to be very brief.  I'm really tired.  Still, I have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule to keep, which seems to be working for me, and I forgot Monday (or more accurately, my net was down), so I wanted to keep the routine.  Tomorrow's project?  I'll be talking about yet another pair of socks.  Until then, have a wonderful night!