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knittingrunner
Seriously Hooked
USA
797 Posts |
 Posted - 11/06/2012 : 7:26:05 PM
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I thought this was worth sharing with you;
I spent this past weekend with my mother. Her health is failing and I'm not sure if I'll be seeing her again before she finds her final peace.
That said, she is still knitting when her concentration is sharp.
She has been knitting a sock, I navigated the heel and gusset for her two weeks ago, she knitted the foot and was waiting for me to help with the toe.
When the sock knitting is too much, she works on a dishcloth.
On Sunday evening we started tag team knitting, I'd knit a decrease round on the sock while she knitted on the dishcloth, we'd swap and for her to knit the plain round while I worked on the dishcloth.
It took about an hour and a half, but we got the toe down to the point of kitchener stitch (she said that's the only way she'll close a toe), completed one dishcloth and started a new one.
As I tucked her into bed she remarked that she wasn't sure about tag-team knitting, 'it was weird', I told her I'd enjoyed the evening we spent knitting together.
Before I left on Monday, I set up the second sock and knitted a few rounds so she can start working on the leg.
This is one of the best memories I have during this long year of her illness. I'm so grateful she persisted in teaching me how to knit almost 30 years ago so that I could help her now.
-Evelyn
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kbshee
Permanent Resident
USA
4129 Posts |
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Catlover
Gabber Extraordinaire
370 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 10:29:00 AM
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| Very touching and also uplifting. You spoke only of pleasure and that's not so common in a situation like yours. Thank you for this. |
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Luann
Permanent Resident
USA
2610 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 11:33:46 AM
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Evelyn, thank you for sharing your story. Words fail at a time like this. The best gift you can give to someone in your mother's stage of life is time and companionship, I'm so glad you could spend it knitting together.
Take care, we'll be thinking of you and your mom.
Luann
Knit and let knit!
http://www.luannocracy.blogspot.com |
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hillstreetmama
Permanent Resident
USA
3448 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2012 : 7:20:33 PM
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Thanks for sharing your story. It's so hard to watch out parents' health fail. My dad has squamous cell carcinoma, and they have decided to quit treating. Any more surgery will be disfiguring, and will probably not help. He suffers from post polio syndrome, too, so he's very weak and doesn't get around well. I'm the only one of four kids who lives in the same town, so I'll try to spend more time with him, but it's hard. I'm sure you'll always remember the time you and your mom spent knitting.
Jan
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Ceil
Permanent Resident
USA
1564 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2012 : 9:42:59 PM
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Wow, that's a great--not story--EXPERIENCE! You are blessed to have that.
Ceil
(Ravelry: ceilr)
Time is never a factor when joy is involved. |
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
773 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2012 : 05:27:40 AM
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Hi Knittingrunner, that is really lovely. Not only do you have the memory but the socks and the dishcloths will be there too. Doing things together is the best part of any human relationship and you are really doing that. How wonderful.
I hope you do not mind, but I would like to print that out and share it with some friends, especially our knitting group friends.
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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jtamsn
Permanent Resident
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2012 : 2:43:07 PM
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Wonderful memories you will always have in your heart. Thank you for sharing.
judy |
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Lynne604
New Pal
USA
30 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2012 : 6:10:57 PM
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| One thing that's helped me is writing down my memories for my daughter. So many wonderful family stories -- and others not so wonderful -- will be forgotten unless we preserve them for future generations. |
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
773 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2012 : 10:07:46 AM
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Lynne, you are so right. I do a bit of family history research. Hatches matches and dispatches tell you something but it is the stories that bring life to it all and put it into perspective.
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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crafty1mjw@comcast.net
Seriously Hooked
USA
855 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2012 : 8:26:25 PM
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Thanks so much for sharing, Evelyn. My mom crocheted; I got the crafty gene from her.
craftymjw
Keep on knitting!
A balanced diet is a peanut butter cookie in each hand! |
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Nanaknit
Chatty Knitter
286 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2013 : 09:21:19 AM
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Thanks so much for sharing your special time with your Mom, Evelyn. I think that the knitting memory is one of the last to go. My great aunt Jessie taught me how to knit when I was a child. A few years ago, we went to visit. She was in her nineties and was frail and confused. I had taken my knitting with me and even though she didn't engage with anyone else in the room, she did stop and admire my knitting on her way to bed. I always think of her and that evening with a smile.
Linda
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
-Eleanor Roosevelt |
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Kipster
Seriously Hooked
723 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2013 : 11:47:34 AM
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Thank you for sharing such a lovely story. This will be such a precious memory for you.
My mother always had needles or a crochet hook in her hands. So one of the saddest things about her Alzheimer's was that she forgot how to knit. Then she forgot how to crochet. However it seems that she must have retained some memory of knitting.
I wasn't really much of a knitter at that time, but we kept yarn and needles in her room at the assisted living and I'd play around with making squares. One day, my Mom stared at my hands and, after a while, said, "You're doing that wrong." She couldn't explain why--but--because she knit english and I knit continental, I'm fairly sure that's what she meant.
Mary
http://snitnknit.blogspot.com/
Ravelry: McMary |
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kkknitter
Seriously Hooked
641 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2013 : 05:40:21 AM
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My mother was an extraordinary knitter, crocheter, weaver, dyer and kept making things until dementia took her ability away. At one point I asked her to make me a few new pot holders. When they arrived they looked nothing like what she usually made. These were lumpy, odd sizes and strange colors. Not until a few years later did I understand that she had simply forgotten how to crochet. It was a very sad realization.
Kristina |
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knittingrunner
Seriously Hooked
USA
797 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2013 : 8:29:15 PM
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My mother signed the knitting over to me about two weeks after my original post and passed away December first.
I will complete her last pair of socks soon, I can feel her hands moving mine swiftly so they will be on my sister's feet before the cold weather disappears entirely.
My sisters have her hand knits, I couldn't bear to take them, and the real gift she gave me was way back when she taught me how to knit about 30 years ago.
I'm grateful we had time to say good bye to each other and that knitting was part of the process.
I have her geraniums on my window sill and their blooms this winter helped brighten the dark winter days.
P.S. She did kitchener the toe on the first sock so I guess I'd better give it my best shot!
Bike, Knit, (run)!
knittingbiker on Ravelry |
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flicka
Seriously Hooked
825 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2013 : 10:44:58 AM
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Evelyn, I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. I'm glad you have the socks and the geraniums with you. And your mother's loving guidance as you finish the second sock.
flicka |
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
773 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2013 : 05:49:41 AM
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HI Evelyn, I have been wondering about your Mum and popping back here every now and then to see if there was any news. I expect you will often feel her hands guiding you as you knit because she taught you in the first place. I am sorry to hear that she is gone and sending you best wishes.
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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jtamsn
Permanent Resident
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2013 : 08:51:44 AM
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I'm sorry for the loss of your mother, I'm sure there will be a longing in your heart for some time. What wonderful memories you have to look back on.
judy |
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Rwats2
Chatty Knitter
USA
165 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2013 : 9:26:55 PM
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| I am so sorry for your loss as well. You are in my thoughts.. |
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Bittersweet Knitting
