A Tale of Two Sweaters

Please excuse the look of my blog while I work on creating a more pleasing design despite my significant limitations with blog technology.

Last week I received an order from an old friend whom I had lost touch with over the years. Natalie and I met in elementary school and remained friends until she transferred to a different high school. We spent a lot of time together as children. I have fond memories of us being old enough to walk to "The Center" for ice cream and spending New Years Eve listening to the top 40 countdown on 96.5 with our tape recorders poised for recording our most favorite song. Now she is a lawyer and married with a beautiful 15 month-old daughter. Reconnecting was one of those times that you are actually thankful for Facebook, not cursing its insane time-sucking ability. To say that I was excited to start working on this sweater is an understatement.

The thing about knitting a sweater is that it takes time. Time that sometimes

leaves me bored and time that sometimes finds me fascinated. While knitting this sweater I couldn't help but be fascinated. I am at this point right now where I am really enjoying seeing my childhood friends as grownups. I feel so proud to be part of their history and to watch as each of them paves out their future, especially as many are having children. Plain and simple; I just think that it is so cool. So as I knit up this cozy sweater with flower buttons, I couldn't help but think of the old Natalie as a kid and the now Natalie as an adult with a fancy job, a beautiful wife, and an adorable baby and hope she knows about the love and memories that went in to making Baby E her sweater.

The second sweater is for my favorite two year-old. The one you see and hear the most about in this blog. I had moved up here just before Sadie was born. While her mama had swollen ankles and her dad couldn't wait for her arrival. I had the pleasure of meeting her early on in life and become a very consistent part of her day-to-day life. I've seen her learn and change and discover and protest and laugh and love on a regular basis and feel so lucky to get to be there for all of it. When her mama dropped the not-so-subtle hint that maybe Sadie would like a vest for her second birthday, I got to thinkin'. Last year she got a bright yellow hoodie, but this year Sadie has a favorite color and it ain't yellow. So a purple vest it was. And I'm pretty sure that this isn't what her mama had in mind, but sometimes Sadie needs someone to girl it up for her. So, I bent the rules a little and added a little femininity to a typically masculine piece. Hopefully she too will know the love and stories that went in to making it.