Early Stage WIPs
I have some secret knitting to do, so before I got all caught up in that, I thought I better catalog all the early stage WIPs I have and what I think of them at this time. These are the projects I start just to […]
Month: January 2011
Pictures from the Week
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes for my Grandmother Frances. My mom commented on all your comments to the effect that knitters are kind people. Yes, indeed. Here’s a little look at what a week in January looks like in the northern Central […]
Wisconsin Knitter turns 100 on 1/11/11
It may be heresy in knitting circles to say this, but Elizabeth Zimmerman is not my favorite knitter from Wisconsin. My favorite Wisconsin knitter is my Grandma Frances. Actually, since my mother is also from Wisconsin and a knitter, my favorite Wisconsin knitter born before 1937 is my Grandma Frances, my mom’s mom. She was born on January 11, 1911. Only 1 in 4400 people in the US live to be 1o0. She’s a grand lady, so on January 11, 2011, she invited all of us to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to celebrate her centenial. Her local newspaper The Sheboygan Press did a very nice article about her party, and they even quoted me (M and I came the farthest distance to attend).
My brother, Thomas, took this picture of Grandma Frances and me over the holidays, so she’s not 100 in this photo but merely 99 years, 50 weeks.
At her party, she had no trouble blowing out the candles on her cake. My Aunt Ann is on the left, and my grandmother’s friends, Fr. Mike and Gracie are also in the photo.
My mom and dad gave her a box of 100 chocolates (several layers) from Oaks Chocolates, a favorite of Grandma’s. They were so excited at Oaks to make a 100-piece box of chocolate for a 100th birthday, that they spelled out 100 in “oysters” (balls of soft vanilla cream enrobed in chocolate and rolled in crushed peanuts).
When I was young, Grandma Frances often knit me a sweater as a Christmas gift. I still have the last sweater she knit, which is from the early 80s when I was in high school. It doesn’t fit anymore, but it still is beautiful.
All her sweaters came with her label neatly sewn inside.
Up the center back of the sweater is this lovely cable and lace panel:
When I started to knit 10 years ago, she gave me the book this pattern is from:
I hope to knit it myself someday. I’ll probably make a chart for the lace and cable panels. It’s knit in sportweight yarn and a mass amount rather than yardage is given, so I’ll also buy a lot of yarn to be sure. My version won’t have all a grandma’s love knit into it, but I’ll be able to button it over my now larger body (I was bust-free until my 20s).
Thanks, Grandma, for all the love and sweaters, mittens and scarves! Oh, and the genes aren’t half bad either.