Soccer Days
I am afraid I have no photos to share today, only an anecdote.
Yesterday my husband had one son on one side of the state; I had the younger (son # 3 who recently got his brown sweater) on the other side of the state, both for soccer games. Oldest son was in the middle of the state, running in a track meet. There being only 2 parents in our household, Son #1 was alone. :(
(If you are wondering if this is our usual Sunday, let me reassure you that it is often and usually worse)
I am sitting in the hot sun, happily knitting away on my Shetland shawl and cheering for my son's team (let me reiterate: this shawl is great fun!) The mother of one of the other boys on the soccer team comes to examine my knitting. Long and short is, she has seen me knitting all sorts of things over the course of the last 10 months, but this one she really really loves.
Wants to buy it.
Now, the thing is, my knitting has my life and my childrens' lives knitted into it. It accompanies me to games (exciting and dull) and hears my cheers and groans, my conversations with other parents, gets in the middle when I hug my daughter or grab my goal-scoring son. Watches the track meets and cross country meets and gets unceremoniously dropped on the ground when my son approaches the finish line. You get the idea. Selling it would be so weird to me, like selling part of my family.
But at the same time, I recognized something in this young mom. She saw something lovely and thrilled to it. Totally appreciated it. How can I deny her appreciation of something I, too, love?
Her offer was very different from the one I fielded several years ago. Which I think I will just leave un-discussed except to say that $20,000 would not have induced me to let her have my shawl.
Anyway, I find myself contemplating all sorts of surprising things. We'll see what comes out of my cogitations. She is not the only person who has admired my lace, and there is a long line of loved ones to share it with, but for some reason she touched something in me and I want to somehow share with her the loveliness of knitted lace. Hm.
Yesterday my husband had one son on one side of the state; I had the younger (son # 3 who recently got his brown sweater) on the other side of the state, both for soccer games. Oldest son was in the middle of the state, running in a track meet. There being only 2 parents in our household, Son #1 was alone. :(
(If you are wondering if this is our usual Sunday, let me reassure you that it is often and usually worse)
I am sitting in the hot sun, happily knitting away on my Shetland shawl and cheering for my son's team (let me reiterate: this shawl is great fun!) The mother of one of the other boys on the soccer team comes to examine my knitting. Long and short is, she has seen me knitting all sorts of things over the course of the last 10 months, but this one she really really loves.
Wants to buy it.
Now, the thing is, my knitting has my life and my childrens' lives knitted into it. It accompanies me to games (exciting and dull) and hears my cheers and groans, my conversations with other parents, gets in the middle when I hug my daughter or grab my goal-scoring son. Watches the track meets and cross country meets and gets unceremoniously dropped on the ground when my son approaches the finish line. You get the idea. Selling it would be so weird to me, like selling part of my family.
But at the same time, I recognized something in this young mom. She saw something lovely and thrilled to it. Totally appreciated it. How can I deny her appreciation of something I, too, love?
Her offer was very different from the one I fielded several years ago. Which I think I will just leave un-discussed except to say that $20,000 would not have induced me to let her have my shawl.
Anyway, I find myself contemplating all sorts of surprising things. We'll see what comes out of my cogitations. She is not the only person who has admired my lace, and there is a long line of loved ones to share it with, but for some reason she touched something in me and I want to somehow share with her the loveliness of knitted lace. Hm.
Comments
I live on the other side of the globe (the Philippines) and am thrilled over the beauty of lace knitting. Pictures of work like yours that inspire me. They make me want to learn how to knit beautiful things of my own. I know it's not easy to put a value to something you put your heart and soul and time into.
I once tried fielding an offer for a friend's knitting, but she also gently demurred, as her knit-for list was long enough only for immediate family. I realized she didn't want the pressure of having to knit to please me and my Mother's Day request, although she was delighted by my admiration of her work. She did the next best thing - gave me a pattern for my birthday. The card read, "I know you also knit, and I know you can one day make beautiful things of your own." I was touched, because of her confidence in my own (meagre) skills. Now that's a friend.
So I look at your pictures, and I look for pattern books, and I try to learn something.
What can I say, you're an artist :)
Cheers,
Mona