19 Jul A Knitting Legacy………….
Today I want to share something near & dear to my heart. In the Patterns Group on Ravelry, a mother posted a request for a pattern to knit a particular style of leg warmers for her daughter, a serious dance student. Her post reminded me of the warm up tights my mother had knit for me, when I was serious about dance.
Believe it or not, I still have the tights, 30 + years later – well worn with some mending. These tights were only one project of the many Mom knit, most without a pattern. For these she referred to Knitting From the Top by Barbara Walker, and relied on her own knowledge to create the perfectly fitted tights. Now, this was a long time ago so I don’t think I’ll be wearing these again anytime soon, but I’ll keep them just the same.
I present these pictures here as a Knitting Legacy – mother to daughter…………….
Mom did make these so that they came up to just under my bustline. I used the ties like shoulder straps rather then around my waist, most of the time. I could tie the cord around my waist & fold the top part down. She also did a stirrup foot which I wore over my toe shoes, not inside.
Another interesting item is that one of my sisters found Mom’s notes for these tights, in Mom’s copy of Knitting from the Top. I’ve tried to get a good a scan as possible of the notes – in pencil on notebook paper – and made a pdf of them. Here is a link I hope works……….Mom’s notes for warm-up tights. Now, I can’t guarantee the notes are understandable or usable for anyone, but Mom would be pleased if someone were to take her idea & run with it, she was a very giving person. If you do – please note your inspiration from Celia Hildebrand, mother extraordinary. She’ll look down from heaven & smile upon you.
And oh, if you notice that there are measurements in Mom’s notes for DH – yep, he danced too. His theory – ballet class was the best place to find a girl friend. We’ve been together ever since.
Cheers! Jean
drdesigns
Posted at 14:10h, 06 SeptemberAt one time I thought I might have a daughter to follow in my footsteps – didn’t happen.
The photos of the tights are ones I took of the actual tights my Mother knit for me – the pictures are not from a book. (Nor is any other photo on my blog.) Pictures are uploaded to WordPress in the original jpg format. For Mom’s notes – I scanned her notes just using the scanner flat bed and saved the image as a pdf. The pdf file is uploaded to my blog just like the jpg files, stored on WordPress server, and then I linked the pdf.
Thanks for the compliment on the pictures though – Mom would have been tickled – I really not much of a photographer 🙂
shelly
Posted at 12:29h, 06 Septemberok. i love these tights.seem like a great pattern for an ice skater. i have always imagined i would have a daughter and go ice skating with her..so maybe i should make these for me and my yet unconceived daughter.
question…i have never scanned photos though i do have a scanner ( all in one printer, copier, scanner, faxer). i have never used my scanner. i understand how to scan; how did you learn how to make a link in a blog to the scanned photos from that book???please helpp..
Miss 376
Posted at 00:13h, 20 JulyThis reminded me I have a pair of “frogs” that my mum made. They started out as bed socks, but I used to wear them as slippers. They were made out of strong wearing dark, khaki green wool, hence the name frogs. As they weren’t shaped at the toes it seemed an appropiate name. They just seemed to grow with me, never grew out of them. I don’t wear them now, but I couldn’t get rid of them, memories of a happy childhood
pdxknitterati
Posted at 15:33h, 19 JulyThat’s a sweet story. Thanks for sharing!