"Mom, you know what you haven't done in ages?" asks Anna.
I think, hmm......let's see; laugh, smile, be frivolous, sexy, hopeful.....
"MOM!"
"Sorry!"
"You know what you haven't done in ages that you should teach me? Knitting!"
"Right! That's certainly true. Would you like to learn how to knit?"
"Yes!! I've already found your stuff!"
Anna comes back moments later, clutching my knitting bag as I watch stitches from Lucy's half-finished poncho leaping like lemmings off the needles.
*sigh*
I grab a separate pair of fat needles, a spare ball of wool and cast on 10 perfect little stitches. The knitter in me begins to reawaken.
After approximately two minutes of 'in through the back, and pull the stitch over' Anna's starts to look cross. She wants a turn. We hold the needles together and hash out one row. This could be the start of something big. This is why having daughters is going to be brilliant. Anna demands to try it herself. 30 seconds later she huffs "I did not order up that knot! I'm not sure I like your way of knitting Momma, mine is much easier. Do you want me to show you?"
Well aware that expecting a five year old to learn how to knit is stretching things a tad, I take a leaf out of LK's book and allow the student to keep enjoying the idea of the sport, if not the specifics.
"Here's actually how you do it Mom. My way. It's much quicker. It's how kids do it. You just loop it around like this, and make as many stitches as you want. I am going to make you a rainbow scarf. I'm thinking about it right now, hanging up in your wardrobe. It is going to be beautiful!"
I have to admit, I'm getting a little misty at this point, thinking of my little knitter, working hard on my first five-stitches-wide rainbow scarf. I would wear it every day. Especially in July - heatwave be damned.
Anna by this point has produced a silk-worm-like cocoon of wool on the needle. She hands it back to me.
"There you go Mom! I'm just gonna need you to do the long part, you know the stretching it out so that's it a scarf part. I'm gonna have a snack".
I may have to wait a while for that rainbow scarf.
5 comments:
Whoa Knitting! i loved knitting with my mother--and I'm sure Anna will remember it fondly--regardless of who she thinks the real expert is.
Happy to see you posting again! Love your blog.
Ha! My mom tried to teach me how to knit when I was a kid and I never learned. Then at 24 I decided I wanted to know how to knit. My mom taught me and I love it. I can't think of anything more relaxing that knitting.
Brilliant. Just... brilliant.
What can I say........a girl after my own heart! ;-)
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