Her Own Personal Brand

Remember Pat from Knit Group? The 'toys-for-kids-in-trauma' knitter?

She started her Christmas knitting. Her daughter requested this sweater.

It comes from an old Patons book called 'O Canada!'

The book cost $5.95 - for a book with 13 patterns! That gives you an idea of how old the book is.

Pat showed me the pattern a couple of weeks ago and I told her she was nuts. I had knit this sweater for # one son, Charlie, several years ago. It is one heck of a difficult knit. The ribbing isn't too bad. The 'waves' immediately above the ribbing aren't too bad. The loons aren't too bad. But the water! It is enough to drive you crazy.

So many rows where part of the row is black, part is white. Then there are the occasional flecks of black in an otherwise white row. To knit these rows, you have two choices. Neither fun. Choice one - do not cut the black and try to pick it up on the next row, which is always at some weird 'pull-your-knitting-out-of-shape' angle. Or, cut the black each time you finish with it, then weave in hundreds of ends. I remember the knitting of this sweater as the biggest knitting challenge I had, or probably still have, ever faced.

Yesterday Pat came to me, to show what she has accomplished so far.

Knitters all around were 'oohing and aahing'. Pat explained " It is for my daughter."

"Pat", I said, "It might be for your daughter, but it is your own personal brand of insanity."