16 February 2012

our creative space . . . 'generational knitting'

Greetings all,
My hand surgery is coming up & boy do my hands know it, a last hurrah of carpal tunnel agony before they get chopped up & fixed, yay!!  So i haven't be playing along with Our Creative Space lately as the most creative thing i've been doing is pressing buttons on various kitchen appliances & baking!!
Last night i found my 3rd daughter, freshly bathed & pyjama'd, enjoying the balmy evening outdoors.
 This girl comes from a long line of knitters: her twin sister is especially good, her mother not so great (i knit too tight, i crochet too lose) & her grandmother, possibly the Queen of knitting, who was taught by the best - her mother - who was a house maid (totally Downton Abbey style) in Northamptonshire England & her mother-in-law - who was a seamstress & made the finest dresses for high society in Sydney Australia.
 I grew up in a family where the boys matched our father's fashionable outfits & we girls matched our mother's colourful ensembles!!  It could be safari suits & mumus, or matchy matchy knitted jumpers, beautifully made, but surely we looked like a cult or Von Trapp family gone wrong.  The worst part was truly the hair cuts!! 
 Back to this little lamb - her dream is to spin her own wool off our sheepy fleece when we have a farm.  I can totally see her doing it too.  Only she wants to knit straight off the lamb, so she has a foot rest for comfort & a lamb for company!!
 Before i took these images i did spy on her first, she chatters away to herself & moves her mouth to the rhythmn of her knitting.  I do that when i cut fabric!!
 What a delightful evening in her own little world of craft.
I love that my children have been given the gift of handmade craft from my grandmothers down to my children.  Even my brothers can ice cakes & sew, knit & paint - often better than their wives!!  Generational craft, not only do you learn the skills but it's often the most memorable time you spend with family.  Love Posie

21 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

cute, cute, cute! :)

Sally said...

That is so wonderful! I love thinking about the connections through generations too.

Jan Maree said...

How cute! my mum and Grandmother both knitted, sewed, crocheted and so on - you are right about the learning creating some of the best memories. Happy knitting to your little one.

by marie-nicole said...

What a gorgeous setting and so nice to see someone so young indulging in such simple pleasures.

Ps. Thank you for your lovely comment on my post today... so pleased that we are on the same on the same wavelength :-)
xx

Sarah@Dolls And Daydreams said...

Lovely! xx

ally said...

I'm pretty sure my grandmother was the best knitter....
So true what you say
And she looks awesome in the glasses :-)

Sue Niven said...

This is a wonderful post, thanks for sharing.

pamkennison said...

Oh my Posie, your young one reminds me of me :) I come from a family that makes things. My paternal grand mother and aunt were seamstresses, my maternal grandmother was a milliner. My mother also made all my clothes. I learnt to knit at my paternal grand mothers knee when I was about 6 and to crochet, and to embroider, my mother knits, and did beautiful embroidery. She has vascular dementia but still manages to knit :)

polkadotpeticoat said...

What a wonderful thing to pass on to your children....I had to laugh at the matching outfits poor thing!

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

The gift of making things is one of the best things you can pass on to your children. They always have a way to keep themselves occupied and they look at the world from an open 'what can I do with this, what can I do here' kind of view I think. Bring on the sheep!

Beck said...

I love that little face movement, so adorable! Great post, it's so important that these skills are passed on. And the love of creating, that's a life long gift xo

Jennie said...

Love this post Jennie!
So so cool that she wants to find a quiet time with her knitting. Gorgeous photos - I love the glasses too!x

Notchka said...

I absolutely agree and remember with fondness and gratitude the skills passed to me by relations. You have a tag for Downton Abbey?? - teeheehee, I like that show.

Sindy said...

It is the best thing to grow up in a crafty household, and learn that a sewing machine and crocheting is not scary. I remember sitting for hours reading aloud to my mother whilst she sewed patchwork quilts together (growing up in South Africa in the 80s, there was no daytime TV or radio to speak of, so without books the house was pretty quiet). Good practice for my reading too, aged about 8. And my barbies were the best dressed of anyones, they could have attended 3 white tie balls a day!

Anonymous said...

Clever girl!!
I long to one day spin my own yarn too :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely post and pics. My Mum has tried to teach my girls the knitting basics but they find it hard both are left handed...any ideas? I have not knitted for years but feelin inspired xx

Karla {Ironmum Karla} said...

Oh how sweet! My husbands mum is a quilter and knitter and does some awesome stuff. I can see the joy in it!

I often wonder if sewing etc is a dying art but then I see this and I think no.x

ClaireyHewitt said...

My knitting skills are limited, but I can knit a scarf and I will be sharing this skill with my daughters, they might not take it any further, but the basics will be theirs.

Mum on the Run said...

So, so sweet.
Although, one of my unsettling memories is of my right handed mother trying to teach this left handed lass to knit.
Not her finest hour!
:-) x

Thea said...

HI Jennie, glad to hear you will have relief soon. I was thinking about you. Congrats on passing on the wonderful gift of handmade to your children. I love seeing children craft. She looks so content in the zone. xx

The Provincial Homemaker said...

Sounds like a wonderful evening for your daughter. I just wish I had paid more attention when my grandmother tried to teach me to knit....and sew...and embroider. We don't realise what we are missing out on until much later. All that knowledge and skill lost to the passage of time, arthritis and now a hazy memory.