I hope you're all on bloglines...
...otherwise I don't imagine you'll see this but never mind. I just wanted to chat and for the first time in 7 months I'm in a nice place with a comfy computer where blogging seemed a real option. When travelling, unless you have extreme commitment to the blog, it can be a bit of a trial. I suppose, also, blogging is always something I've done alone and didn't want the husband to be getting bored while I battled with dodgy connections.
I'm in New Zealand at my friend's place and my husband is just making some lunch. It's about one thirty in the afternoon so too late to skype with my mum. My mum prompted me to post as sometimes there are things I want to chat about other knitting people with and then I realised I'd really missed blogging while I'd been travelling.
Hello, Mum! This is about you so if you don't want to read it you don't have to!
I bought my mum Big Girl Knits for mother's day and she doesn't like it. She says she's smaller than a lot of the patterns smallest size and doesn't think she can knit the patterns, but concedes she might feel differently if I was there with her. I'm disappointed - I think she is definitely bigger than a UK size 16 and I thought patterns in the UK only tend to go up to that size. I checked out the book and the women in the photos seemed large but I thought they seemed large like my mum but maybe big girl in the US means BIIIIIIG. I admit I didn't check out actual sizing of the patterns but I presumed they would fill the gap in UK patterns. I suppose I feel a but dumb for not checking further but also I was so excited and so sure she'd like it because she's been getting more confident and some of the patterns are really lovely.
So there are two things: sadness at the present not going down well and frustration at hearing her say she can't knit stuff when I know there is no mystery to following a pattern. I don't know if there are symptoms of her MS that I'm not aware of that mean she's extra reticent to try a longer, more involved pattern or if she's just talking herself down. I wsa very gung ho about knitting. I was so excited about trying every new technique I could when I restarted knitting three years ago that I let nothing phase me. I always tried to encourage other knitters, including my mum, when they got stuck with garter stitch scarves. Break free! My mum has recently knitted me a garter stitch log cabin blanket for when I return to the UK (end of May) which I thought was an inspired request. She now knits other things aswell - bobbles and intarsia have been recent additions to her knitting CV. So what could there be in the pattern book that would stop her? Is this something that happens with all acheivements? My friend had to write a list of her achievements to take to her life coach for the next session. She felt very disappointed with the list she made but I was jolly impressed by it. What do you think?
Ok ramble ramble and I don't even have a photo for you! How rude! well, how about I promise to go to the LYS and spend money just to get a good piccy for you guys. Yes, yes, I am that selfless.
So good to see you all again and I won't leave it another 7 months!
posted by noblinknits @ 1:35 AM
5 Comments:
Hello! I'm glad you've decided to post. It seems so long since you last wrote anything. It's a shame about your Mum not liking the book. Perhaps she was just feeling a bit down with you being so far away on Mother's Day. As well sometimes books patterns grow on you so she might change her mind. It sounds like she is pretty good at knitting with the intarsia under her belt!
It's great to hear from you again! I still check in from time to time to see if you have posted anything. You're right about the US women being very BIG! Over 50% of the people are overweight and 30% are obese! I'm not sure of the sizing in the UK, but you're mum probably hit the nail on the head with her observation. Saying that, however, your mum can easily alter the patterns in the book if she really likes something in it.
Hey, welcome back. Great to hear from you.
Glad you are back blogging. Now firstly, don't look at Eunny Knits on a day when you feel underconfident about your own knowledge, you are bound to come away either humbled or destroyed!
Your Mum, may well be a Tweenie like me. I am not so huge that I need to be swathed in a massive tent of knitting nor need special designs made for me. However, I fall between a 16 and an 18 and truly finding things to knit that I like is difficult. Either I look at a pattern with envy and think I am too fat to carry that one off, or I look at a pattern on a model of my size and think knitwear is definitely NOT for slightly bigger people.
Staring at patterns. Feeling indecisions, not feeling like coping with something. these are all side effects of my drug Pregabelin which is a cousin of the drug Gabapentin often prescribed for nerve pain associated with MS. Getting launched into something and keeping it going is mightily difficult and not knowing if you would like it to wear when you finish it and try it on a body you don't like, i.e. yourself, can be natural with medical conditions. Big Girl knits, I find is a bit ugly and your Mum is right in her critique of the patterns not being suitable for tweenies like us.
What about writing a pattern for your Mum yourself? Something simple perhaps with a bit of shaping to flatter her body? How about your Mum getting back into knitting by picking out some easy knit accessories, or asking her to knit something for you?
There is always the possibility that your Mum felt a bit upset at the thought of her daughter viewing her as BIG. Us slightly larger girls do imagine we are the only ones who have noticed.
You and your Mum need to sit down in the same room again and for you to guide her into choosing some clothes that suit her body shape. Perhaps a pretty summer cardigan or something like that.
hello
hey babes, if your on skype, add me to your list, my sype name is princi meona, obviously you'll find me based in cardiff etc, you never know, we might be online at the same time for a little chat.
jen
fyberspates
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