Monday, January 18, 2010

cleaning up

One thing my son and I did over Christmas was go through his clothes. I did this willingly, him? not so much. Trying on clothes over and over surprisingly does not rate high on his list of "Fun Things To do With Mom".
We cleared a ton of space (that boy does go through growth spurts!), and I have a huge bag to give to a co-worker - her son is 7, and the few times the two boys have met, the young one seems to idolize my son. (I think it's because my kid took the smaller one in hand on some rides at a company get together, meaning the younger one didn't need a parent with him. Things like that make an impression on a kid.) So he's a willing recipient of the outgrown stuff.

However, some stuff is hard to give away. I tend to keep the hand knits. I'm not sure why - it's not like he will ever wear them again, and it would be good for someone else to wear and appreciate them, but still. Not Yet.

The denim sweater. I love this. (I wish the colours had shown up better - it's a lovely faded denim with the darker denim stripe and red highlights. I think it's either Rowan Denim or Elann (actually, I think it's a combination of both). I have a ton of denim cotton still, but I plan on waiting for him to get through the growth period before I knit it up. I'm thinking the teen years...

His spider sweater. This is a cable pattern I found in a Barbara Walker (I think) book, and put it on the front of a basic raglan sweater. It's a tweedy cotton/wool blend in a richer blue than shows here. The boy loves it, and was trying to stretch the sleeves longer to hang on to it. I promised him I'd use this spider chart again on a bigger sweater for him.

I know I should give these away to someone who will wear them and enjoy them. But it's hard. I love them, and I love the fact that my boy loves them.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you able to knit some cuffs onto the shorter sleeves to lengthen them?

Philosophical Karen said...

That spider is cool. I'd have a hard time giving that up, too.

Carol said...

Somet hings are too precious to let go. I am on a decluttering kick too. but I still have yet to let go of my leather pants from high school. that I will NEVER fit into again. I'm shocked at how small I was. I also have a sweater from my child days that I can't bear to throw out. So long as it's not a huge mountain, a little nostalgia won't hurt....

Anonymous said...

I agree with Lucky Canuck--cut off the cuffs and pick up and knit more length. If you don't have the same yarn, make contrasting bands of colour, and unravel the cuffs and reknit them. Voila! Another few months of wear. It's great when they love the things you knit for them.
I knit a double breasted coat in blue, with navy collar and pocket trim for my nephew when he was 1 1/2 years old. His mom used it for all three sons, and then it travelled around from one family to another, through the extended family and the inlaws. I don't know where (or if) it still exists, but it sure got lots of wear. At one time I considered embroidering the initials of all the kids who had worn it. The original owner is now 35 years old and just had a son. Should I knit a repeat of the coat?
Marlyce in Windsor.

Brendaknits said...

Just one word. Grandkids.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear...
I have to take back all the harsh things I thought about you!
There I was counting the days since your last post (December 24) when suddenly I realized that you showed 10 posts in 2010 - and I hadn't seen any of them!!!!!!!!!!!
I have you saved as a favourite and for some reason, my computer wasn't recognizing any of your 2010 posts. Hmmm..... have to look into that.
In the meantime, glad you're back. I missed you!
Nancy

deirdre said...

I have kept all the sweaters I made for my boys, too, and I also (maybe naiively) thought I'd make them wonderful sweaters once their growth spurts kind of slowed down. However:

a) THEY WON'T STOP GROWING.

b) They try desperately not to hurt my feelings, but unless it comes from a store of their choosing, and/or has a rock & roll logo on it, they ain't wearing it.

So as mentioned already, I am holding out for grandkids. Maybe you'll have better luck...

Sel and Poivre said...

The old spend the morning trying stuff on ordeal - 'gotta do it. The old hanging on to the hand knits - 'gotta say, 'gotta do that too! (Especially that spider!)

AlisonH said...

My mom knit me a sweater as a kid that she let me help design how I wanted it to look. I wore that thing till the sleeves barely covered the elbows and she hid it from me. It's long gone, she doesn't remember where, although she promises she would only have given it to someone who appreciates it.

What I wouldn't have given to have been able to let my girls wear that when they were that size.