Today is my Mom's birthday! Congratulations, Mom!
Dad gave her a new MacBook, so I know she's reading my blog now. Hi, Mom!
I won't embarrass her by giving her age, but it's one of those milestone ones. In Holland, it's customary to congratulate the birthday person for her ability to make it through another year on Earth. I love that, so big round of applause!! Go, Mom!
She's Got Craft
Mom started knitting back in the 80's to help her quit smoking. I remember those days well. She'd sit with the nice ladies at The Yarn Shoppe learning to knit while I learned to cross-stitch. You better believe I was stitching up unicorns and Strawberry Shortcake motifs. I think I might have seriously embarrassing latch hook projects in my parents' attic too.
She outfit me in handmade sweaters every year, often with bright, stripey patterns. She was also really good at intarsia, and one Georgia O'Keefe-inspired cotton sweater always impressed me, even when I was a little too young to appreciate it.
Mom's an all around crafty type. In addition to knitting and crocheting, she also quilts and makes her own wrapping paper. Her coolest projects were the stuffed toys, particularly the dinosaurs, that she'd sew for my younger cousins. She also sewed my homecoming dress, a flashy, silver a-line number, and sent me off to college with several original, hand-sewn creations that always drew compliments.
Mom, who is a registered nurse in her professional life, is a very warm soul. In addition to dropping everything to care for grandmother (my Dad's mom) while she was in hospice, she more recently hung out with a neighbor's mom who has Alzheimer's disease. They crocheted together.
I'm over the moon that mom is online now, and can dip into the great font of internet knitting and crochet. It's a whole different crafty world these days, and I have no doubt that she'll pick up some new hobbies. She's already eyeing my sock book loot.
The only catch is that Mom is allergic to sheep wool, though not to other animal fibers. I only know about Panda Cotton. Do you have any favorite sheep-free sock yarns?
Happy Birthday D!
Hope you have an excellent day and have fun with Jen's knitting books!
love
B
Posted by: B | July 24, 2007 at 04:54 AM
Happy Birthday, Mom! I would give my eye teeth if you could find Jen's unicorn cross stitch creations and post them on the Internet!;)
Posted by: Heather | July 24, 2007 at 07:56 AM
Happy Birthday to your Mom!! Do you have any pictures of her creations! They sound cool. I'll have to think about sock yarns without wool. I don't think that I've tried any.
Posted by: Jeannie | July 24, 2007 at 09:04 AM
Happy Birthday, Jen's Mom!
Nice story, Jen!
Posted by: KelInCal | July 24, 2007 at 12:05 PM
Happy birthday to your Mom! And big congrats on hitting this milestone!
Posted by: Jean | July 24, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Happy Birthday and Welcome! My own personal tradition is to say, "I'm so glad you're on the planet!"
Does Regia have wool? It was a dream to work with on the train.
Posted by: becky | July 24, 2007 at 03:15 PM
Your mom sounds so incredibly wonderful, just the kind of person I would love to have as a friend. I guess it makes sense that she would raise such a kind and creative daughter.
Posted by: Jennifer | July 24, 2007 at 03:39 PM
AWWW big happy birthday Jen's MOM!!!
Posted by: Jennie | July 24, 2007 at 10:23 PM
A great non-wool sock yarn is cascade fixation which you can check out here: http://www.cascadeyarns.com/cascade-fixation.asp 98% cotton and 2% elastic. I made my first socks out of this and they turned out great!
Posted by: Grad School Knitter | July 24, 2007 at 10:57 PM
Happy Birthday Jen's mom!
Posted by: Laura | July 25, 2007 at 07:32 AM
Blue Moon Fiber Arts has cotton yarn called Sock Candy. Currently it is not up on the web but you could email them and possibly get some. Right now it is available in solids.
Posted by: chrispy | July 27, 2007 at 06:41 PM
Hey I just found a non-wool sock list on Grumperina's blog: http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/nonwoolysockyarn.htm
Posted by: Grad School Knitter | August 03, 2007 at 02:29 PM