Of Family, Weddings, and Stitching for Others

Today I thought I would write a little bit about family since most of my projects recently have been for family members.  On a daily basis there is me, quanta (my husband) and Baby Man (now a little over 16 months old).  My parents live about an hour away and we see them a few times a month.  It isn’t enough, but it is still wonderful.  quanta’s parents live nearby too, but we see them maybe twice a year.   There is also quanta’s sister who lives in the U.S., and comes back to Toronto a few times a year.  And all of the Chinese aunties, uncles, cousins and grandmother who we see once in a while too.  On my side, we see my mother’s sisters occasionally, but haven’t seen anyone from my dad’s side in a long time.  (He is significantly younger than most of his siblings, so they have never been really close as long as I’ve been aware.)

This year we get to celebrate two weddings in the family.  One of my cousins is getting married, and quanta’s sister is also tying the knot.  But I’m very sad that I’m not going to be at either ceremony.  In my cousin’s case, years of misunderstanding between family members have caused her to decide not to invite any of us.  I suspect she has no idea how deeply she has hurt me and my mom.  I suppose it cuts both ways though.  In quanta’s sister’s case, well, they are essentially eloping… but everyone knows and there will be dinners in five different cities, on different days, to celebrate.  Very modern, eh?

Is what does this have to do with anything?  Well, beyond those two weddings, I know of three other couples getting married this year.  And, sadly, I’m only making something for one couple.  You see, I really don’t like to give stitched gifts.  (And I’m not yet secure enough in my knitting skills to even consider giving a knitted gift beyond dishcloths, which I don’t think anyone would really appreciate.  And yes, I know I am making dishcloths to give as a gift.  I’m not only long winded, I’m also inconsistent.)  I think I’m a pretty neat stitcher, I might even go as far as to say that I’m fairly accomplished considering I’m self-taught.  But, I always second guess whether something will be appreciated.  So, that leads me to stitching a piece for only one wedding this year, with sincere hopes that it won’t end up in a closet.

As for the rest of the family, I think I’ve only given stitched pieces to my parents and my aunts.  A couple of quanta’s aunties have expressed interest in my stitching, but I’m not entirely sure how sincere they are, or if I would be able to find something to suit their style.  I guess it isn’t so bad to stitch mostly for myself, but what am I going to do when I run out of room on my walls?

Here’s another look at one of the gifts I’m making.  I’ve finished up both, I’m happy to report, well ahead of schedule.  One needs to be sent off to be framed and the other will be finished by me.

As for my knitting, I ripped out those pooling socks made from that lovely hand-painted Tencel yarn.  I’ll try again with a different pattern for anklets later.  Instead, I’m working on the Tesla scarf from the latest Knotions.  I’m using Silk Seacell from Dye-Versions, which, surprisingly, is a silk and seacell blend.  I’ll share some pictures in a couple of days.  My crocheted market bag is also coming along nicely.  I’m nearly done with the one skein I wound into a yarn cake, so I just need to find some time to wind up the second skein.