March 2024
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  

Find Me Here

Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On Pinterest

Grandmother Emily’s Knitting Needles

In an effort to resurrect  this site, on the day after Mother’s Day 2016, I’d like to post about a gift from my own mother that surprised me beyond means.

My mother was the own who taught me how to knit, and the one who still encourages me to fulfill what has become a life’s passion. She’ll still, at 86 years old, ask what I’m working on, and wants to know all about the yarns and patterns even though she herself has stopped knitting.

During a visit to her home  she totally threw me for a loop, by emerging from the spare bedroom closet with two sets of needles, and without much ado or ceremoniousness (is that a word?) she presented me with the 2 pairs  of needles and said, “These belonged to your Grandmother Emily and I thought you’d like to have them.”

Um, excuse me, you mean dad’s mom’s needles?  She simply replied “Yes”.  For me? Again simply “Yes”.

My grandmother Emily Frances Menton Lynch was born in 1899, and passed in 1960, when I was just 5 years old.  I don’t have any vivid memories of her of my own. I know she lived in Astoria, Queens, NY where my dad grew up and I faintly remember trips to visit her. But I may be just wishfully imagining that I remember.

The thought of holding her needles in my hands, let alone being able to knit something with them, made my heart sing. Here I was reaching back into the past to imagine what could she have knit with these needles. Baby bonnets, little cardigans, maybe mittens for all her grandchildren, maybe even for me.

A pair of size 2 1/2mm Phantoms from England and a pair of size 3 Champions from Canada.

Knowing how I love old things, old patterns especially, these needles will have new life, only now knitting for my grandchildren, Emily’s great great grandchildren.

I love you Mom, thanks for saving these for me.

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>