It is that time of year when knitters all over the world make their list. Not a list of what they want for Christmas, a list of what they are going to knit for family and friends. I used to be one of those people who would warm up the knitting needles, pick out projects too big, too complex and too many about this time of the year. Remember when you didn't start thinking about Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving? November and December would become eight weeks of total stress and distress. I would burn the midnight oil nightly, go into work exhausted and start all over the next day. I have even been known to pull an all-nighter on Christmas Eve finishing that last hand-knit Christmas gift. There was no joy in Christmas knitting. It was all about the product and not the fabulous process.
Then there was the year I knit the ugly vest for my boyfriend. I didn't think it was ugly at the time, but as I look back on it, it was UGLY! At the time I just had all of these warm, oogy feelings about him wearing something I made and thinking about me when he wore it. He was a big guy, so I made a big vest--big enough for the Jolly Green Giant. This is the vest that proved the prophecy. You know the one that says if you knit something for your boyfriend, the relationship is doomed. Some where into the next year The Boyfriend Sweater Prophecy came true for me.
Then there was the year I knit the ugly vest for my boyfriend. I didn't think it was ugly at the time, but as I look back on it, it was UGLY! At the time I just had all of these warm, oogy feelings about him wearing something I made and thinking about me when he wore it. He was a big guy, so I made a big vest--big enough for the Jolly Green Giant. This is the vest that proved the prophecy. You know the one that says if you knit something for your boyfriend, the relationship is doomed. Some where into the next year The Boyfriend Sweater Prophecy came true for me.
I remember the year I made this for my Mom. It was a huge undertaking and I didn't even know it. I just knew that I loved the mohair and I loved the pattern so it was going to be beautiful. I remember how my stomach would fill with butterflies every time I would work on it. I was so excited. It never occurred to me that it would have the comfort of prickery chainmaille and not be particularly flattering. I just thought it was beautiful. Without even knowing it, I had entered the world of Intarsia. Going through my Mom's things as we were packing the house, I found this. Only the love of a mother would keep this for 40 years.
My approach to Christmas knitting is very different now. I knit patterns I love with yarn that makes me sigh. Somewhere as I knit the project a little voice says, "This is Barb's." "This has Linda written all over it." "Are you kidding?!?!? This can only be Erin's!" This solves all of the problems of Christmas knitting. I am always knitting things I love. I am always knitting with yarn I love. There is no midnight oil or all-nighters. There is no stress and it is always about the process. There is only the wonderful yoga of knitting for those I love. I have this wonderful pile of beautiful things I have been knitting this year. Tomorrow I will climb my stairway to heaven, put on Christmas music and let the yarn speak to me. Rather than me deciding who gets what, the yarns tells me where they want to go and it is always right.
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