How it all started again.

I must give a little background to the whole knitting thing. My grandmother (Nana) was always knitting or sewing. One of the things she made was baby booties. She knew that pattern by heart. These booties had a tie on them and she always said it was to make sure they stayed on little feet. Everyone she knew who had a new baby received several pairs of these booties. My mom, my brother, my cousins, my children and I all had pairs of these when we were babies. My grandmother taught me to knit and I spent many glorious hours with her making slipper socks and ponchos. I never learned to use dpns and make those baby booties. She died when my children were still little. I wished I had asked her to write that pattern down. I searched every Workbasket Magazine she had saved, which numbered in the 100's, but never found that pattern. When my daughter, Kelli started knitting socks, I asked her to help me with a pattern for baby booties. I showed her the booties I had saved throughout the years. She of course went online and searched patterns. We found a pattern close to what my grandmother had made and tweaked it to match as close as we could. Then I needed to learn to knit booties, which was no easy endeavor! But first I had to get needles. I had just given my daughter all of my grandmother's, my mother's and my mother-in-laws knitting needles and accessories. She gave me back some dpns and I was on my way. Lucky for me she was there in the beginnning to help. Five needles, a new way to cast on stitches, stitches slipping off, losing stitches, counting rows in a circle, stitch markers, figuring out heel flaps, gussests and the kitchener stitch. Oh my, it wasn't pretty! Thank goodness for videos online and unlimited long distance calling to my daughter! I made several pair before I decided I was ready to attempt something bigger. By now I had the knitting fever. In the last few months it has just blossomed. I took pictures of my socks. I learned to use flickr and download pictures. I became a member on Ravelry. I've browsed patterns and knitting stores. Iwent to adult socks after Kelli, my daughter, made me a pair for Christmas and my feet were finally warm! I wanted warm feet all the time and I knew one pair of socks would never be enough. Then I made socks for my husband and he loved them! Kelli had made him one pair for Christmas too and he was wearing them constantly! I moved to baby sweaters when my oldest daughter's best friend, Sarah had a baby boy(Alex) this spring. Then I went on to make his sister(Kaylee) a sweater for her 2nd birthday in August. Sweaters and socks are important to me since I live in Upstate New York and the winters are long, snowy, and cold. I've learned so much about knitting and yarn and fiber that I never knew, thanks to Kelli. I guess it's never to late to teach an old mom new things. And I'm still learning!

My first baby booties

My second attempt.