November 17th ......My Grandmas

The 70's was a scary time for fashion.  Everyone talks about the 80's now, but really, they were a vast improvement over the 70's.  Of course, that's what we think in retrospect, at the time, it was all just so cool.  Polyester was relatively new, and polyester double knit the wonder fabric.  My mother LOVED polyester double knit because it was indestructible.  She made my baby brother's little overalls out of it, because he couldn't crawl the knees out of them.  A google search today showed that they still make polyester doubleknit, but it appears to be a vastly more comfortable and nice looking fabric than the heavy stuff of the 70's.

Just before I moved to Utah in 1984, my Grandma F gave me about 5 yards of red polyester doubleknit with instructions to make myself a suit out of it.  It was soooooo far out of fashion that there was NO WAY, but I didn't tell her that. She was a penny pincher, there was no such thing as a useless anything.  She wrote poems on the backs of the envelopes that came in the mail.  I thanked her and put it in my stash of fabric.  Several years later I was making a camping quilt...simple, just big blocks of fabric cut from old clothes mostly.  I was short on cash, but needed something to back it with and while going through my stash, I found the doubleknit.  It made a great quilt back.

SO great, that now, 20 years later, I still have that quilt.  The back looks nearly brand new.  The top has been patched and repatched.  Last week as I was wrestling the heavy thing through the sewing machine, patching it once again, I considered throwing it out.  But, I think because of the connection to that ultra-frugal grandma,  I can't do it.  Patching it is cheaper than making another one, and probably takes less time.  So, I patch it and think of Grandma F.

I was taught to knit by both grandmothers. I don't know if different knitting styles had names, but each grandma had her own way of knitting.  And, both of them were convinced that the other was ruining me by teaching me the wrong way.  It didn't help that they didn't like each other much.  But, between them, I learned to knit.  I'm not a frequent knitter, or even a great knitter, but I do OK.  My style is probably a weird mesh of Grandma F and Grammie E's different styles.  

Grammie E was prolific and the fastest knitter I have ever seen, she could knit a little person sweater in a couple of days.  I remember as a little kid being fascinated watching her flashing needles.  She did a lot of different kinds of handwork and always encouraged me when I was embroidering or crocheting or knitting or whatever.  She knit us sweaters and dresses and doll clothes.  When she died, Mom and Dad decided that since I still knit, I could have her vast collection of knitting needles, patterns, etc.  Every once in awhile I get a wild hair to knit something, maybe just to keep from forgetting how.  And when I do, I go to the drawer with all the knitting needles, and gauges and crochet hooks and yarn needles and I think of Grammie E.  

My grandmothers never did learn to get along.  Grandma F was a staunch member of the Church, who went to the temple nearly every day and made us sing "Love At Home" when we argued.  Grammie E was agnostic, and loved watching golf and football on TV on Sundays, knitting needles going full-speed ahead, seemingly on their own.  I loved them both, and look forward to when I can see them again someday and thank them for all they taught me.