Still Knitting!

I don't know if I have ever told you the story of how or when I learned to knit!  When I was in grade school I am thinking about the 5th grade a group of girls from Madison Park in Litchfield, IL started going to the Knitting Shop after school.... we would sit and drink a coke and these two very patient ladies would teach us to knit.... Evelyn Russell lived next door to the knit shop and worked there and a german lady by the name of Brigetta Strope owned the store... how these ladies had the patience to deal with a bunch of giggling girls is more than I can imagine!  Oh how I would love to thank them for their patience and love for the art in which they taught us! 

I earned extra money by delivering orders for the Fuller Brush Lady... Mary Stefani.. I and my siblings did this after school or on Saturdays and Mary was a teacher of life herself "oh the things we learned"  hahaha...  I learned to drive her car sitting next to her while she was getting out the tickets... you see she would let people run a tab for their Fuller Brush products and she would send us up to the door to collect on their debt.. She taught us how to count money back to the customer (something no one does now days they just say you have so much coming and hand it over)..   When we were finished for the afternoon Mary would always take us somewhere and buy us a treat... like the Dairy Queen, A&W Root Beer stand or even Mix Grocery Store.  I don't remember how much we made but it seems like it was under $5.00 for an afternoon and we thought we were rich!!!

The only sweater I still have that I knitted so long ago is of this one I made when I was in the six grade!

I know you are wondering how these two stories tie together... I used my Fuller Brush money to pay for my knitting escapades!  The first thing I ever paid by installment!  I knitted sweaters, houseslippers, vest's, mittens oh the list goes on.... But what they taught me has stuck with me all of my life! 

When Gary was in Mayo Clinic facing two major surgeries back to back I went out to the local Walmart and bought a pattern for a baby afghan and bought pink yarn... while I had no idea  who this blanket was for I knitted and I knitted, I prayed while I knitted for God to perform a miracle in my sweet husbands body, you see he had renal cancer and we knew that we were grasping at straws removing the cancer wherever it popped up... I of coursed prayed it wouldn't return, so many tears were shed as I knitted and knitted on this blanket. I kntted in waiting rooms, I knitted as we drove to an fro.... I knitted going to and from Texas many times while he was doing treatments in Houston at Baylor Medical....  I finished this lovely pink baby afghan about one month before he passed away.... and low and behold not quite 3 years later our first grandchild a agirl was born and this became our Papa Gary Blanket... you see I was living in the Quad Cities and had the chance to retire "young" and moved back to Southeastern Illinois to babysit for my first grandchild, you got it a sweet baby girl named Abigail... Abigail will soon be 5 years old.... and I have in the last year married and moved quite far away from them...  But when I think about knitting I think how therapeutic it was for me to knit that precious blanket, I looked at it and saw all the tears shed and prayers said while I worked on it.... I so felt when I held Abigail and wrapped that blanket around us that Papa Gary was there with us.  We did that day after day... I wouldn't change that time for anything!



Abigail wrapped in her Pappa Gary blanket!  Photo by Katie Kunzelman

 Not sure what got me off on that today other than it was exactly about 8 years ago that I finished that blanket and it always comes to mind this time of the year...

The last couple of days, I knitted 3 bear hats for newborns, one pink one is for Amber who has a few newborn shoots coming up and I had already made her a couple of little brown bear hats, and the other two for my niece Kim who is getting ready to take picture of newborn twins.   I guess we have photography blood in the family because we sure have a lot of family members that can sure take some awesome pictures!  

I hope you are not bored with my reminiscing about knitting.... sorry if I made you cry too!

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Nancy

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.