Knitting Origins

I think most of us crafters have been influenced by some crafty person who came before us. I grew up watching my mom make lots of things around the house: curtains, pillow shams, sofa covers, clothing, halloween costumes, jewelry, etc. I still own a shirt she hand-embroidered for my dad when they were still just dating in the early 70s and it was one of my favorite shirts to wear in my early twenties. I was so awed by the fact that she could take basic materials and whip them up into something that was both pretty and useful. I think it's fair to say I was destined to want to make things.

I picked up my first pair of knitting needles at age 7, when my mom was pregnant with my sister. She was making little sweaters and booties and I loved the clickety-clack of the needles and the way her hands flew around creating stitches. I wanted to learn to how she did that thing with the sticks and string! I wanted to make that clickety-clack sound! My first complete project was a little blanket for my Barbie, in combination pink, white, and baby blue yarn that Red Heart Yarn still makes (I think.) I continued knitting and toying with other crafts, always encouraged by my mother, but after a few years, knitting fell to the wayside as other things became more important in my adolescence. Then in my early 20s, a friend and I drove to Pismo Beach on vacation, where we stopped at an adorable fabric and craft shop. She saw some yarn she loved and I suddenly recalled "Hey! I know how to make stuff with that!" Of course, it'd been years since I'd even been around a pair of knitting needles, so back to my mom I went for a refresher course. I remembered everything I loved about knitting and just a few months later I was surrounded by knitting books, all kinds of yarn, and every needle size in existance. When I find a new obsession, I go whole hog. I haven't stopped knitting since and I daresay I know more about knitting now than my mom does, though she'll always be the faster knitter.

While speaking to her last week, she mentioned having a crap load of buttons she's collected over the years (she's never been one to pass up a good bargain) and wanted to contribute them towards my crafty business. She's so proud of my small endeavor and pleased that something she used to love doing as a hobby or practical need could possibly become a passion-filled career for me. And she loves that it all stemmed from her own mother, who at near 90 years of age can still knit and crochet circles around us both.

Anyway, peep the small collection she sent me:

Aren't some of them just the cheesiest? I think those are the best ones. But tell me, what are your own crafty origins?