Who Taught You?

I was reading a survey about knitters.  The subject was whether or not knitting is DOA in these days in which we live.  The lady who put the survey together did a thorough job of it and the official answer is that ,"No, we are not out to pasture yet" with this art form we love so well.

Turns out that the bulk of active knitters fall in the 61 - 75 year old group, putting me square with the rest of that population.  Most of us learned from moms or grandmothers.  Some, especially Europeans, learned in school. Little English girls learned to knit in the dark during WWII when they spent hours in blacked out bomb shelters.  After I learned that fact, I taught myself to knit without looking.

My beloved mentor, to whom I shall be ever grateful, was named Janet.  I was a young mother with a tiny baby girl who wanted to learn to make her sweaters.  One day I was walking her down the street in her stroller when a fifty-ish lady came out and cooed over my lovely little one.  Of course she invited us in for tea and thus began a lovely friendship.

The thing about Janet B. was that she was an alcoholic, whose family had all but disowned her.  I didn't know what an alcoholic was, but she smelled just like my own mother.  And, because she wasn't MY mother, I was comfortable in her presence.  She was also a terrific knitter and she sat hour after lonely hour, knitting for her grandchildren who never came to visit her.  This is an insidious disease that separates families, or perhaps, in my case, put together a unique one.

In the course of our afternoon cups of tea - hers was liberally laced with Irish whiskey, we got on the subject of knitting and out came the needles.  Like any new craft, I was hopelessly all thumbs, but with infinite patience, Janet B. pulled me through the first and second projects.  She taught me that the knit side looked like little VVVVs and the purl side, like, well, little pearls.  The yarn came from the right side (you can see that she taught me to knit American style) and that if I really couldn't figure out which was the right side, to pin a little gold pin to that side of my work.

In due course we got only the subject of families.  She didn't have one any longer, and I tried like crazy to stay away from mine.  It began to dawn on  me that we shared a similar problem - alcoholism in the family unit.  But how could I want so desperately to avoid my own birth family when  I couldn't wait for my daughter to awaken from her nap so I could grab my knitting bag and go see Janet?

Much, much older now, I see that acceptance was the word I was looking for.  Janet accepted me and I accepted her.  She taught me that valuable lesson along with stockinette, cables and fair isle.  Let me tell you that we were fast and loving friends for about 4 years until she was whisked away by her family to a new, and I suppose dryer, living accommodation.  I never got to say goodbye or thank you, but I have done so many times since in my heart.

Because of our unusual friendship, I learned many things, knitting being only one.  I did make her proud of me, however, when I brought my first blue ribbon from the Ventura County Fair to her.  I had knitted my now toddler daughter an argyle patterned jumper.

I hope Janet's family finally came to accept her.  I hope her grandchildren got all of those sweaters and hats she so expertly knitted for them. I know that I found that it was completely necessary for me to learn to accept my mother just as I had Janet.  Sadly, my own  mom passed from the disease far too young, but by that time she at least realized that her daughter loved her.  Again, thank you Janet for showing me that lesson as well.

Think back on who taught you to knit and send a big old "bless you" out to the universe.  If you are reading this and wish you too had a Janet to help you learn to knit, we have free classes every Friday afternoon at Church of  the Chimes on Magnolia and Hazeltine in Sherman Oaks from 1 to 3.  By tradition, we serve tea around 2 p.m., no not Irish tea for heaven's sake, just tea!  We even have spare yarn and needles, both for knitting and crochet, and a lot of wonderful women who are eager to welcome someone else into the fabulous world of fiber art.

Come back soon, and hugs to you and your projects too,  Pat.