I love to knit dishrags! This is a story about how I became the dishrag queen. Back in the early 80's I met a woman named Norma. She was an accomplished knitter and was always knitting something. She knitted these dishrags and I very much wanted to learn how to knit them. She taught me how to make them. Since then I have made many dishrags. I always have a dishrag on a set of needles...when I'm chatting on the phone I knit. When I'm riding in the car I knit. I knitted in the waiting room through 8 hours of surgery when my Dad shattered his hip from a fall. Again, I knitted through my son's hernia surgery in the waiting room (all by myself). I knitted all the way home (with tears streaming down my face) after leaving our daughter for the first time at IU. I knitted on all the college visits thereafter-both to Bloomington and later when our son went to Purdue. I've knitted through many baseball games (go Cubbies!), softball games, basketball games, football games, and old movies. I knit when I just need to unwind if only for a few minutes. It is almost second nature to my being.
One of the best things about my dishrags is the pleasure I get from not only making them, but giving them away. They make people smile. Once you use one of these dishrags, you are spoiled for life.
I make these too and I love them. My favorite request came from the father-in-law of my sister-in-law who heard that I made these and after his wife died, I became his source.
ReplyDeleteWhat a comforting activity. I've tried to knit and crochet in the past, but I can't stick to it. I like your title and I mother-in-law use to give me those from people she knew. They were the best!!!
ReplyDeleteI have a few & love them. My husband's aunt made them & they won't last forever I know, so perhaps I need to learn how. I loved the way you wrote about your knitting 'fever', knitting down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know this came from Norma!
ReplyDeleteAnd . . . I need some more. Andy got a little bleach-happy.
This made me giggle. I knit at band concerts when my middle daughter was in the high school band. The band director asked my daughter if I would stop knitting in the front row. It unnerved him as the length grew through the concert. I obliged.I moved to the second row and put my feet up on the chair in front of me.
ReplyDeleteAnd you reign!
ReplyDeleteNot really. We all laughed. Knitters can knit with little more concentration than it takes to tie your shoes. Most of us can listen better when the hands are busy. I know a fourth grade teacher who taught her kids to knit.They were always busy with their hands when they could be.
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