Rita Butt

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By: Rita Butt

In fact, I was surprised to hear about this and I didn’t realize so many people were still knitting. 

I stopped a long time ago when nobody wanted the things I knew how to make.

I was good at sweaters, toques, scarves and mitts.  When my children’s sweaters began to be too small, I would simply pick up stitches from the waistband and wrists and lengthen them. 

This increased their usefulness for a couple of years, but it also increased my children’s despair.  They are in photographs in the same outfits at different ages.

I played no favourites with my talents.  My Old Fellow would begrudgingly wear his Aran sweater just to keep the peace. 

I even included extended family members with my donations — whether or not they only wore them when they were visiting is another question.

I even managed to knit complicated patterns and Scandinavian regalia using round needles. 

I had time to do embroidery, mostly cross-stitch, but some straight with little French knots for the middle of the flowers. 

To get started on this job, you had to buy a McCall pattern and iron it onto your cloth. 

They sold pre-stamped aprons and pillow cases with flowers and leaves at Woolworths, but no tablecloths.

My crocheting was limited to granny squares, but I did make my mother a jacket with pockets and an afghan for the church bazaar.

When I was a child, we learned these crafts in school, at least the girls did. 

Our first handicraft session was finding a large wooden spool and fitting it with four small nails.  You needed an extra large nail for your tool.  You could knit a lovely long tube of wool, sew it into a circle and give the finished product as a pot holder.  You figured all your relatives loved these creations.

Also, most people knitted outfits, bonnets and booties for newborns.  Nobody wants these treasures any more.  Babies are cosy and happy in jump suits.

I often wonder how I ever managed.  When I was working full time, I managed to combine crocheting, knitting or embroidery with watching TV.

Today, sitting in my glider doing nothing but looking, I usually fall asleep.  When I have managed to see a whole episode of something, I can’t seem to figure out the crime or clues. 

You don’t get more clever as you get older.

My senior mottos are so what and who cares? But I still wish I had folks and kin I could amaze with my corking, knitting, crocheting and embroidery skills.