happy mother's day!

There's a special holiday coming up this weekend (in Canada anyway, I know it's earlier in other places). I get to celebrate my first Mother's Day this year, although it's much too soon to expect handmade cards drawn with crayons and covered with sparkles, with a special message written in big messy letters. That's what I'm looking forward to, one day.

I was just over reading Alpaca Farm Girl's blog, and she got me thinking about the history of knitting in my family. Although I taught myself to knit in university, there are lots of knitters in my family. As a kid I wore sweaters, vest, tuques, and mittens knit by my mom, grandma, and great-grandma. Somehow I never learned from any of them, and really wish I had, since I would have about 20 more years of experience behind me now!

My mom's parents in front, and my dad's parents just past them.

My grandma (my mom's mom) just turned 84 on May 5. She's an amazing woman, and still healthy and going strong, in spite of a few setbacks recently. A few years ago she started knitting socks again, since she had some extra time, and my grandpa had always preferred them. Back in February or so, my cousin Alisha had the brilliant idea to make this a special sock birthday for my grandma! Let's see if I can remember who all joined in: me, my mom, my two cousins and my Aunty Candy, my Aunty Heather, my Aunty Wendy (who is my aunt by marriage, but loves my grandma like her own mom), my Aunty Beth, and some of my other cousins too. We're a knitting family, aparantly!


Some people made her socks, some (like me) gave her yarn so she could knit socks for herself. I picked up some bare yarn, and dyed it in blues and purples, trying to make something that would remind her of violets. When I was a kid, she told me once how much she likes violets (they grow all over her lawn in the Spring, and look and smell so lovely!). I smile just thinking about her wearing violet-coloured socks! I don't know when we'll next be able to visit my family in B.C., so I probably won't see the finished product for myself. I hope she knows how special she is to all of us, and how much I miss her.

Happy Mother's day to my mom, if she's reading this! I hope every mother out there has a very special day, and gets plenty of cuddles from the ones they love. Now I must go, because my little babe is waking from his nap :)