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Monday, March 9, 2009

Finding the Heir(ess)

I don't have an heir. Oh, we have one for our money (hahahahahaha - whew, that was funny) But I don't have a knitting heir. And it breaks my heart. I am the only one in my family who knits. Not a sister or brother. Not a niece or nephew - not even a cousin or cousine.

Nope. It's just me.

This hits me as something of a tragedy because I am looking backward. My mother-in-law was a crafter (this you know) of her daughter and daughters-in-law, I am the only one who knit and we didn't have much of a chance to craft together. I did not come into my crafting passion until she had almost given it up. However, I am her crafting heir. Joe walked in with some of her crafting goods and placed them in my office and one of the items was a long tin box. I opened it to find an assortment of crochet hooks. Jo-Jo was a crocheter. She knew how to knit, but crocheting was easier for her to handle in the later years. There were also some knitting needles.

A few days ago, I was sorting through one of my knitting needle holders culling the duplicates and those I don't really use. I decided to leave one pair of each size in the holder. Starting with two and going to thirteen, I had every set except for six and nine. (Let me explain these are aluminum needles. Not the rosewood - of which I two complete sets of long and short; nor the bamboo which I don't have a complete set, but I have enough - for now.)

I don't use aluminum needles that often so I wasn't too worried about not having the pairs that were missing. But I went through the needles in the tin box and there were two pairs. One size six and one ten and a half.

Ah. But for a moment you were hoping they were nines, weren't you?
Yeah, me too.

I need to find my heir. That someone within generation next who can take on the legacy started by my mother-in-law's mother or grandmother, which I now keep. I have the funniest feeling it will be my nephew Quin who has the soul of a knitter. He's about ten years old so he's old enough to start. He lives in Colorado, and I don't get to see him that often.

But that's not a great divide when one is cultivating passion. I'll ask him what he thinks.
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6 comments:

Kat said...

I don't have any knitting heirs either. I'm the only one that knits. My niece showed a faint interest, but it died when the hormones kicked in. Maybe she will return to it later on. I hope so. : )

Unknown said...

I hope you do find your knitting heir. Bear in mind that s/he doesnt have to be related to you at all. I feel fortunate that I have my niece, but I would continue to share the craft anyway with those around me.

my7kids said...

by all means, make him a knitter (or a spinner, or crochet-er)!

Of my 7 kids, 5 knit or have knitted (including 2 boys, one of them 8 years old), 5 quilt, and 3 spin. And my 2 yo thinks she does all those things. LOL

I was the only grandchild to inherit my mom's mother's buttons and my dad's mothers handmade lace, crochet hooks, knitting needles, yarn, buttons, lace, bias tapes, and fabrics. Some left from making my dad pajamas when he was little.

I made a flannel quilt for my 10yod when she was born, from scraps my MIL had leftover from making her kids and other grandkids (my age!) pajamas.

I will pray you find an heir... obviously I have more than my share. Want to borrow one?

Anonymous said...

I taught my dd & older ds to knit but they don't. I'm hoping they come back to it one day. You never know.

Susie said...

Quin would be a perfect heir. He's at a great age to learn. You just have to find the perfect project to get him interested and he'll be off and running. I started my eleven year old when he realized he could make himself a pillow. Oh and it didn't hurt when I told him that if he learned now, he could eventually teach girls who have an interest!

Beverly said...

and Quin is so curious that it's something he may take a liking to and his best friends are girls so it could be he already knows about it and this could be a chick magnet thing for him. i'm gonna email his mama and see what she thinks. i might see him next month and then he'll be around me and i can see if he is the heir apparent.

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