Knitting for Kids

So, no kids or grandkids but the desire to knit for kids. Thank you to my niece and her husband for having a beautiful family to satisfy this need! Okay, this is not why they have this family, but I’m delighted to be a Grauntie (my friend’s term for Great Aunt). I think the kids are going to call me “Chuch”, though. That’s a colloquial version of “Aunt” in Ukrainian. So excited.

Three years ago, when I started knitting, I wanted to make something for Great Nephew #1. Since the family is dedicated to the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team, I found a knitting chart for the logo and knit my first kid’s hat (I adapted it from this Penguin Hat pattern which I made for to other kids in Knitting Year 1) :

Last Christmas, there were two Great Nephews. And two new knitting projects. I stayed with the Roughriders theme and knit my first sweaters ever. Another success. This is the kids wearing them during the Grey Cup game in November 2013 (and yes, Saskatchewan won). I adapted a cute kid’s Frog Sweater for this. Love these boys:

What I knit

And THIS Christmas, there’s a third Great, a Great Niece. Wow, what a beautiful family. And a great opportunity to knit baby things, baby GIRL things! I was able to finish hats for the boys (they’re footballs in case you didn’t recognize them; I adapted this great Hat Pattern) and my Great Niece’s first hand-made Roughrider’s hat (using the best Newborn Hat pattern). Adorable threesome (and Mom in this picture):

Needless to say, there’s more in the works (can’t help myself).

It’s been fun looking through my Mom’s patterns for ideas. The books are for things she knit my brother and me AND for my niece and nephew. I feel very connected to my Mom when I knit for these kids.

What I read

I finished a wonderful book, especially for a knitter (recommended by http://bookpage.com/; check this out if you don’t already know this site for book reviews): Ann Hood’s “The Knitting Circle”. Hood writes about death and grieving, and you might think her books are too sad. But they’re also about loving and learning and sharing. This one concerns a woman who, after her child dies, joins a knitting circle and meets women (and a few men) who knit, tell their own stories, and help each other recover from great loss. It was beautifully written and compelling. I actually finished it very quickly, despite my own knitting.

Unkillable Cowl

I follow the Peterborough, Ontario Twitterfeed @Ptbo_Canada. Sometime late summer, they introduced Courtney Druce and her blog http://sassyblondecancerbegone.blogspot.ca/. She’s a local woman in her 20’s who is a four-time Cancer survivor. Yep, I said “four-time”.  The description for her blog says “No story will go untold, or be edited. Everything from diagnosis, to treatment, and life after. Be prepared... for everything and anything”. I found that irresistible. So I started to read her blog that day. And I’ve been hooked ever since. She is a funny, truthful, irreverent, saucy, and very good writer. Want to learn about living life, no matter what? Read Courtney’s blog. Amazing.

In her November 3 post, she wrote about her vow to “Fuck Cancer” and be “Unkillable”. The post featured a black and pink t-shirt that matched that sentiment. That set my needles clacking. I wanted to send Courtney something that would remind her of her strength and power and of how so many people, like me, care about her.

What I knit

Meet Courtney and her Unkillable Cowl:

I’m so excited that she liked it and wears it.

Just a bit more about Courtney. She and her Dad, John, are Co-Chairs for the local 2014 Pink in the Rink campaign. This is a partnership between the local hockey team, the Peterborough Petes, and the Canadian Cancer Society Peterborough and District Unit. Money will be raised from t-shirt sales and the big game against the big rivals, the Oshawa Generals, on February 6. Courtney is a great spokesperson for this important fundraiser. I look forward to following this venture, and getting a t-shirt!

What I read

I made Courtney’s cowl during my marathon Christmas knitting, so I didn’t read much. But I did finish “Fallen Women”. Good, but not my favourite Sandra Dallas book (I loved “Tallgrass” about a Japanese Internment Camp in Colorado. When we drove back from the West in 2011, we followed The Santa Fe Trail as much as we could. We happened upon Camp Amache, the name of the real internment camp. It was very moving and I was thrilled to recognize it in “Tallgrass”).