Looking back.

As a child seeing my mother knit was the most normal thing in the world to me. She was always either cooking or knitting, and excelled in both . She was always teaching or giving advice about patterns and stitches to friends, neighbours, relatives. The knitting needles must have seemed to me extensions of her arms. I don't remember having worn as a child a sweater or a cardigan that wasn't handmade by her. Her eyes lit and she smiled timidly at the nice comments that other ladies made about how pretty and elegant my sisters and I always were.
Take a look at this:



I must have been not more than three years old. Doesn't this cardigan look machine knitted? Well, I have never seen anything made by her that wasn't a masterpiece and the thing that amazes me most is that she never followed patterns or written instructions.
Believe it or not, I still keep that little beauty she made for me over fourty years ago!
Here it is:





Being so old and having been washed many many times it has obviously lost a little of its original shape and perfection but it is still in extremely good conditions.
In spite of the yellowish light and the poor quality of the photos my mother skill is quite visible. It is made with the thinnest pure wool. The stitches are very small. I would say she must have used 1.5mm or 2mm needles.
I simply love this little cardigan and I dream of making one exactly the same one day, maybe, who knows....for a grandchild!
Meanwhile I'll keep on making shawls.
The pink crochet one needs just one more round. I can't wait to get it off my hands!
Look at what I fished out of my knitting basket the other day:



it's just one of the numerous ufos that I have carefully hidden around the house trying to forget they exist. But they mercilessly appear when I least expect them to, seeking revenge! I can't blame them. They seem to say: "Shame on you, Rita! How could you do this? What ever happened to all the loving attention you dedicated us for days, weeks.....?"
Oh well. Mea culpa. I guess I will have to make amends. Yes, how right you are, Red Venice Shawl! I humbly apologize and yes, I will devote my best attention to you and your fellow ufos as from next week.
It's a promise.