The wool mittens

The boys turned 5 on the 21st and we had a family get-together on Saturday. On Sunday morning (they're actual birthday) Boy B walked to the living room after sleeping in a bit and questioned whether today was his actual birthday. I answered, yes. He then said, as serious as a heart attack, that he didn't feel any different. I decided that this too, should be applied to being 40, until morning arrives and my knees crack and back aches just stepping out of bed. Hmmmm is it possible that I feel different? Yeah, thought so.

As for some knitting content! I finished Boy A's 100% wool mittens. He has been gleefully wearing them all week. They're the favorite color, red. Boy B's are slated to be finished this weekend. His are black but only because I did not have royal blue in the stash and black was the alternative to match his coat. Boy A's are made from good ole' Patons Classic Merino wool. Boy B's are from Cascade 220. So far they are both nice yarns to work with. I have not made many things with wool without felting it, therefore, using huge needles and sometimes double strands. It is terribly nice to just knit with wool and think how this would have been what my grandmother used (only her's was scratchier).

Speaking of my grandmother. I was not blessed to ever know her. She passed away terribly young. My older sister was only about a month old (and sis is 47) and grandma was only 41. (This is my mom's mother.) She (grandma) was the second eldest of 13 children and I knew my great grandmother very well. But, grandma had damaged her heart from having Scarlet Fever when she was young and ultimately died from pneumonia.

I am getting to my point, which is that a few weeks ago, mom brought me several totes of yarn that she wanted me to go through and take what I wanted. I was digging through the piles of acrylic picking this and that when I came to the bottom and found a pair of finished red and gray mittens. They are rather small, but would probably make a nice fit for a lady with lady hands (I am not one of those ladies). The mittens would definitely fit a child about middle school I'd say.

I held them up to mom, who was sitting in my living room, and asked where these came from and if she knew they were in all this yarn. She told me they were mittens her mother made on three needles and are the only knitted items she has of her mom's. She thought I might like to have them. Incidentally, my mom never learned to knit on three needles until I taught her last year.

The mittens have no "ladders" to act as a give-away of three-needle knitting. The wool is scratchy and the red and gray colors are not the least bit vibrant, but rather dull. There is one stitch that has popped out that needs repair. But these mittens are perfect in every way. They were made by my grandmother who probably made them well over 50 years ago and I now know I came from a line of knitting women. How lucky am I?

Here's my idea: to get one of those box frame jobbies and display them proudly near my knitting chair. DH will think that's weird, but grandma might just have to out rank him.