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Diva Ree
Gabber Extraordinaire
537 Posts |
 Posted - 11/30/2004 : 6:38:56 PM
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I'm just curious, is knitting a skill that's passed on from one generation to the next, or is it a personal choice that was picked up on out of the blue?
My mom taught me how to knit and crochet when I was about 8, but her mom didn't teach her how to knit (she did teach her how to crochet though). My grandma learned to knit AFTER my mom...and they both used different styles.
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Knit kitty
Permanent Resident
USA
1383 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 6:44:14 PM
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Well, in my case my grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 9, but I learned knitting out of books at age 36. So, a bit of both, I guess. My mom is not into ANY handcrafts, so I guess if it is passed on it skipped a generation. Now if I could just get my DD into knitting, I would feel like I had accomplished something...
~Rebecca
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" |
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ClareNC
Permanent Resident
1233 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 6:47:20 PM
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My Mum taught me to knit when I was a little girl. Her mother never taught her though, she taught herself. I have now taught my youngest daughter to knit. She finished her first long scarf the other day and was so proud. She's started them before but never finished one. And, she done it in about 6 hours. Not bad going.
Clare |
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Marg in Mirror
Permanent Resident
Canada
3204 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 6:51:23 PM
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Maternal grandmother, mother, paternal aunt, me...but alas, not my daughter (yet)...
-- Marg in Calgary
TLWKOTB
http://knitsonthebus.blogspot.com |
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ErinAmy
Chatty Knitter
USA
147 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 7:28:03 PM
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My Mom knit and croched and I so wish I had done it with her! Since she has passed away, my sisters and I have learned and love to knit together and talk about how much our mom would love to see us! Part of the reason I learned was because it makes me feel closer to her.
Erin
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Janice Alline
Seriously Hooked
USA
633 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 7:29:30 PM
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My family's not crafty but my husband's family is. A friend taught me to knit years & years ago but it didn't stick. More years & more beginning knitting lessons & finally in Sept 03, it stuck but good! 
I've since passed on the craft to 1 co-worker & have just begun to teach a 2nd one. I helped her pick out yarn today for her 1st scarf! I wish lunch hours were LONGER!!
Jan in Lawrence, KS
"A policeman arrives at the scene of what looks like a bad accident. There's a pedestrian lying, unmoving, in the crosswalk. The driver of the car near-by says, "I swear, I never touched her. I saw her at the crosswalk and came to a complete stop. I smiled and waved for her to cross, and she fainted." |
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truly violet
Permanent Resident
6397 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 7:53:50 PM
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well mom and an aunt taught me.....I was so young all I remember was that one of them said I held the needles wrong......
( I hold a fork wrong as well, I hold it apparently european)
my nonna used to knit beaded handbags and make sweaters, she also made lace of all sorts.
my nonna raised 4 kids as a widow around the turn of the century.....that is how she did it
I also sew, ( mom was a fashion designer) crochet, I make porcelain dolls, dollhouse miniatures, and occationally write.
in my generation, and culture these were skills necessary for living, along with cooking, cleaning...etc.
vi
none of this will matter in 100 years.......except I will finally be at my goal weight...vi |
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Knitmama
Seriously Hooked
USA
682 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 8:17:01 PM
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Well, my toddler WANTS to learn. Does that count?
Rachel |
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Tam
Permanent Resident
Australia
2810 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 8:29:22 PM
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My grandmother taught me when I was a little girl, and she taught my mum and aunt when they were little girls; my grandmother can't knit now because of arthritis and poor eyesight, my mum never finishes anything and my aunt gave up knitting because she says she has no-one to knit for.
Happy Knitting,
Tam in Melbourne
http://photos.yahoo.com/lillysmum2002
2004 Stats: 21 FOs, 2 WIPs, 1 frog, 1 on hold
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Wovenflame
Seriously Hooked
Canada
812 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 9:02:47 PM
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I taught my daughters to knit, my mother taught me to knit, Grandma taught Mom, Great Grandma taught Grandma......probably on throughout the ages. They (and myself) are not only knitters. We all are multi-crafters doing quite a number of fiber related crafts. It seems to come naturally to us......the desire and the relative ease of picking up the creative stuff.
My mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all wonderful painters too. Alas, as of yet, it has not rubbed off on me. (Although I hear they all started later in life.) I have painted and even got high marks in my Art classes at school, but I come no where near to their skill.
I don't think anyone on Dad's side of the family ever did much in the way of needlecrafts of any kind.
Edit: Ooops. I just remembered, Great Grandma on my dad's side did do lovely hardanger. Perhaps she did other things as well. I didn't really know her well. She was very, very old when I met her as a small child.
-Marlene-
Come visit me at:http://wovenflame.blogspot.com/ |
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 9:18:17 PM
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My family made it a point to teach all daughters "the womaly arts", sewing,crochetting (no undergarment was without it's lace) cooking, cleaning, managing a home, decorating, embroidery, etc. etc.,,,But...no one knew how to knit. I picked it up on my own when I was 7 or 8.
fran |
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frenchtoast
Chatty Knitter
Canada
188 Posts |
Posted - 11/30/2004 : 11:23:06 PM
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One day when I was 15 or 16 I decided I wanted to learn to knit and I taught myself. My mom could never figure out why especially since it wasn't "hip" at the time. When my grandfather died, we found a letter of his talking about his first wife (my dad's mom who died 40 years ago and I never knew) and how she was a knitting maniac. Now my mom is convinced that I somehow *knew* and HAD TO knit because of this. Even though it's nice to imagine that connection with a woman I know so little about, I don't know if I really believe that. Either I learned because I just wanted to or it was passed on in my blood.
www.kategilbert.com
www.kategilbert.com/blog |
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Sabrina Fair
Seriously Hooked
United Kingdom
639 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 04:02:31 AM
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I think for me that knitting is in the blood. This is so strong that I can almost feel it in my hands.
My mum knit occassionally and certainly taught me to knit. Her favourite thing was to paint and at this she was good. My sister too is into textiles having a degree in the subject but she dosn't hand knit.
My maternal grandmother had arthritis so never knit in my presence, also I did not know her well, I only met her 4 or 5 times and she died when I was a child. Now when she died my mother took a small amount of things from her house, one was her bag of knitting needles and the others were two aran style jumpers. They were beutifully knitted and finished. When I was a teenager I worn them as did my mother. When I learnt to knit, it was her needles I used.
In some funny indirect way I think her skill was passed to me. I think this even more strongly when last year looking at my mothers families census returns I found that my great grandmother and great, great grandmother were listed not as farmers wives and daughters (which they were) but as dressmakers and needle women.
Definately in my blood - its nice it makes me feel so close to them. Funnily my brother ended up a carpenter which many men in that family did also. For all of us it must be in the hands
Sabrina
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
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dignitynaplomb
Chatty Knitter
259 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 04:05:43 AM
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My grandmother taught me originally, then a few years ago, I retaught myself. She also taught my mother when she was small, Mom still knows the basics but it's not something she likes to do all the time, my sisters never had the desire to learn. Nobody on my father's side does anything even remotely crafty.
-Heather
http://sitnknit.blogspot.com
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Crey
Seriously Hooked
827 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 07:25:04 AM
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I was taught by my mother who was taught by her mother - I'm assuming all the women further back than that knew how to knit also since it was most likely part of their education (the womaly arts like housekeeping and cooking - the textbooks are cool - I have my grandmothers). And now, my son has learned - I doubt he'll be a voracious knitter like his Mom  - but he knows how and is proud to have the knowledge! - Crey
"Water that is too pure has no fish." -Ts'ai Ken T'an |
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scarf-o-matic
Chatty Knitter
United Kingdom
148 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 07:42:30 AM
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My grandmother was a knitter, but did not teach me. She died a couple of years ago, and would have a laugh if she saw me knitting... I loved her laugh. My mother does not knit, but she has been making a quilt for the last million years, and my sister is a dressmaker/Industrial machinist. So some form of craft does crop up in the family... I was labelled the 'bookish' one, but when I picked up the needles earlier this Autumn I found that the pen and the needle are not adversaries after all.
Jess
http://scarfomatic.typepad.com/ |
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DaniW
Chatty Knitter
USA
164 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 07:48:36 AM
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My step-mom and her mom tried (in vain) to turn me into a little lady. I was 8 or 9 at the time. They showed me macrame (this was the 70s after all), crochet, and embroidery.
I can't remember who showed me how to knit, but I didn't get a chance to learn anything, I was just given a demonstration.
I remember my sister knitting and she made me a sweater that I wore forever. Was a long sleeved, garter stitch sweater with a sailor collar. Wish I still had it. That was the only rememberance on anyone knitting. I also remember my mom, who is a bitter, angry woman, mocking the sweater my sister knit for her. She never showed me how to knit because she said she couldn't figure out how to work with a leftie.
I come by my aptitude for creativity through the blood. My mother was once a gifted artist and all of her sisters were quite creative in one form or another. My mom credits her sister Marie for teaching me to draw and her other sister Irma was extremely talented with sewing. I had many of her little creations for years.
I was always known as the creative one out of all of the kids and my art was always encouraged by everyone around me. It has always been my therapy and way of escaping from the pain of my childhood.
I went on to do just about any handcraft that I can, even selling my handmade jewelry for awhile. I am teaching myself knitting and I find it such a good fit for my life, esp. as it is such a good outlet for me while I am still recovering from my hysterectomy and am not allowed to lift anything heavier than 5lbs.
The creative gene was passed on to my kids.  My DH is quite creative in his own right, so they get it from both sides. My 9yo has already asked to learn knitting. I told him that I have to figure out what I'm doing first!  But eventually I hope to teach both of them.
Last night they were busy making ornaments and my 9yo was working on origami. They both are learning to hand sew as well. Dh and I are planning on getting them tools this Christmas so they can learn wood working as well.
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klfrazier
Permanent Resident
1745 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 08:00:07 AM
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It's in our family blood. I learned from Gram when I was small,and Mom took over later on when I was in 4-H. Both women are highly accomplished knitters in their own rights, although Gram has focused on feather and fan afghans for years while Mom loves cables.
The interesting thing is that Mom had all but stopped knitting after I left for college. Over the last two years I've pulled her back in, and now she spends more than I do on yarn!
Kristin |
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Sabrina Fair
Seriously Hooked
United Kingdom
639 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 08:46:26 AM
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This is great, so far for the majority it is a thing passed through the generations or through friendship groups.
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
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MJM
Chatty Knitter
Canada
293 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 08:54:57 AM
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My aunt taught me to knit, though she is married into the family. My mother doesn't do any crafts, what-so-ever. My grandmother did a lot of needlepoint, though I think she crocheted a little bit when she was younger. Other than that, I am the only one in my family that knits/crochets.
MJM
View My Blog at:
http://alwayscastingon.blogspot.com/
"Life is a stocking," grandma says,
"And yours has just begun.
"But I am knitting the toe of mine,
"And my work is almost done."
*Nineteenth-century rhyme
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jade
Permanent Resident
USA
1543 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2004 : 09:02:20 AM
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My mother taught me to knit, sew, crochet and embroider when I was old enough to hold a needle or hook. Also to cook and bake when I could stand on a chair and work over a countertop. She had 3 small children and worked in the family business, my older brothers weren't expected to do "girl's work" so I was pressed into service as soon as possible.
I would knit ribbings or do hand-sewing or crochet edgings while my mother did the main job before she trusted me to take on an entire garment. I also made tons of dolls' clothes. It was my job to clean and cut up meat and vegetables for her to start cooking dinner. By the time I was in my teens I was making all my own clothes and cooking for the family.
I think she was surprised that I like working with my hands because she found it a burden. She told me that she had learnt from her mother but never had her mother's talent. I was very moved when she said she thought I had inherited some of her mother's gift.
Cheryl |
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