Knitting to Remember

Jun 16, 2024

Last week, I watched the World War II D-Day 80th Anniversary ceremony. As I watched from my cozy couch, I worked on my newest Knitting Bee Quilt fingering weight lace square. Without realizing the significance, the day before I had cast on the square using the colorway, “Old Pal in the Army.”

The skein was part of a Christmas Box sold by lolodidit a few years ago. I ordered the box that represented one of my favorite movies—White Christmas—a WWII movie. I had knit a pair of my Zig Then Zag Socks immediately after receiving the skein, so I had a nice bit of yarn left waiting for a fun second project.

My fingering weight sample for my upcoming Quilt pattern (to be published this fall!) uses all left over skeins for the lace squares (and some of the connecting squares). I can’t wait to share it with you, although it’s going to be a few months!

It just so happens….

When I knit I often find these neat synergies within my projects—both intentional and unexpected.

I used a WWII-inspired colorway on the 80th anniversary of D-Day… while my grandfather-in-law watched over me. Hanging on my living room wall, Dale Peters’s military photo is framed with his medic’s instrument kit and a plaque explaining that he took this kit with him on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

He was there.

He was there, 80 years ago, attempting to stitch together the men around him.

I have always thought that the medics on those beaches had the most harrowing assignment that day. Their first objective wasn’t to stay alive with ammunition and to advance up the beach. Their job was to stay in the open where men had already fallen, and attempt to save as many lives as possible.

Be the Light

I don’t know if you have noticed, but war seems to be a consistent theme in The Human Narrative. I have my own theories on this, though I won’t dive into that deep (and not-so-uplifting) well of philosophical indulgence.

However, within the darknesses of humanity, I believe the occasional lights shine ever brighter.

So how do we find the light in the darkness? Perhaps we could each try to be a light.

What I tell my children—often—is to “Be Kind and Generous.”

I expect you will find those words in my past posts. But I believe that they bear repeating. Often.

Your kindness and generosity can take many forms.

I choose to believe that crafters tend to be kinder people than most.

Disclaimer: I can point to many proofs of my being wrong about this. Crafters seem to be as nice as the general population. Which is… well, scroll through any online comments section or political-related posts, and you’ll see that we humans can be unnecessarily brutal. Humans don’t just hurt others with sharp objects.

Words have the potential to be much sharper than any blade.

Regardless, I want to believe—and have seen many examples—that crafters can be a super kind and generous bunch.

We knit gifts for our loved ones. We knit projects for charity. We speak words of assurance and support to our knitting friends. We tell our knitting friends that their projects are wonderful (even if there’s a dropped stitch or the cable is twisted the wrong way).

Honestly, I see the Act of Knitting as a form of generosity. We use our time, talents, and resources to create something of beauty that would not have otherwise existed in this world. And as long as you don’t create something like a fair isle project with a nasty message, it’s probably going to be an inherently positive project.

Kind. Generous.

SigKNITficance

Beyond the positive act of knitting, I love the additional meaning imbued in those projects that bring together multiple aspects that enhance the overall effect.

I feel like this is where themed yarn and projects shine. Indie yarn dyers often create special collections, or simply name their regular colorways with such fun and meaningful names.

In this area, I will submit that Shakespeare was not quite right. While a rose might still smell nice if it were called something else, I think it smells all the sweeter for its perfect name. So it goes with yarn colorways.

Take a perfectly-named skein of yarn, add a pattern that exudes the same energy or meaning, connect it to one of your life experiences, and you have a project that is worth more than the sum of its parts. It becomes a journal entry.

I find these types of projects to be far more memorable. Meaning cues memory. If I’m going to put any amount of time and resources into a project, I want it to be important to me, which leads to meaning, and therefore achieves a memorable status.

I suppose that is why the two designs I am currently knitting—the Knitting Bee Quilt and It Begins With Socks patterns—incorporate all of these elements. Plus, with a scrappy quilt, I get to include so many yarny memories! 💖

[And if you want sneak peeks at either design, be sure to check out my recent Instagram posts!]