Bind off...

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my very own, personal knitting guru - Nanny. Without her, I am sure that I would never have knitted - let alone be the knitter that I am today.

Her talent, knowledge and patience has been my boon. She shared all of it with me, the lucky girl that I am.

In her later years she has flattered me with comments about my skill and the fact that she never could have knitted without a pattern - to which I must retort, it is probably only because she never thought to.

She lived to be 92 years old. We were able to enjoy her, happy and healthy, up until 3 weeks before her passing - we were very lucky.

Nanny learned to knit, in school, at the age of 6 - not from her mother. The only thing she ever remembers her mother knitting were navy blue socks for the family (I would assume that a family of 6 would need plenty of socks!). In school, in Scotland, the first project a child knitted was a pair of socks - which she claims to have never finished, to her mother's dismay.

My grandmother was a great seamstress, enjoyed doing embroidery and needlepoint, too. But, I always remember her having something on her knitting needles, no matter what other project she was working on. My grandfather was always outfitted in gorgeous, warm pullovers, cardigans and handknit jackets. Right through to my early adult years, I could expect a yearly sweater or cardigan from her - the birth of my own children took her focus off clothing me and put it towards them. There are numerous photos of me as a young child in full outfit sets that my grandmother had knitted for me, as there are of my kids.

In the past few years, she began to have trouble knitting with anything less than worsted weight. The last couple of years had her having difficulty reading and following patterns. She fell back to knitting afghans with a repetative pattern that was second nature to her. Every time she finished an afghan, she swore that it was the last one...until she cast on another!

She was knitting right up to the end, though, and had just cast on for another afghan when she had the fall that hospitalized her.

Thank you, Nanny, for giving me a talent that keeps me and my family warm, in body and soul.