I want to tell you about my new favorite sweater.
I didn’t knit it, but someone did. My mother rescued it from being thrown out and she really just thought I could use the buttons. She had no idea I would actually wear it. It’s heavy and scratchy as hell and not something a normal Floridian would want, but I love it. It’s a handknit from Ireland and I think it’s old. I had to stitch up one of the underarms and it needed a serious bath, but other than that, it is perfect.
I wore it for the entire week I was in Massachusetts at Christmas. I wear it in the air-conditioned office sometimes. I wear it out on my screened-in patio on chilly winter Florida days (yes, it gets chilly, but also I’m a wimp). I’m wearing it right now, actually.
At first it was a little too scratchy, but I’ve gotten used to it and I find its thick, sturdy shape comforting, like a big itchy hug. I admire all the intricate stitches and the nearly invisible seams. Someone put a lot of love into this sweater, or at least a lot of time. I am honored to give it another life. It is too awesome to be trash.
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:13 pm
You are so awesome!
That’s how I feel about my brown sweater (except it isn’t really very itchy). It is my favorite thing to wear when I come home from work and am tired in the evening. I am always “colder” when I am tired and that sweater makes all the difference. And I think about all the work you did to make it—even that you made it when you weren’t having fun anymore. It was a labor of love and I appreciate it all the more because of that. Sweaters have stories—even when you don’t know it. I love handmade things and I appreciate them more now that I’ve gone through the knitting process myself. While I knit, I think about the person and it forms a connection to the fibers. Feelings get knit right into the object…it is magic!
Someone made that sweater and you connect to the craftmanship and the creator because of what you know and feel about knitting… COOL!