Throwback Thursday: From the Needles of Sylvia Becker

Back in the beginning of December, Mary wrote a lovely post about a sweater that her mother-in-law knitted for her almost 35 years ago. Reading the story and admiring Mary's bright green sweater reminded me that I had something very similar.

My sweater is a stranded  pullover instead of a henley and is knit with acrylic instead of wool, but it was also knit for me by my mother-in-law. She made it as a Christmas gift the year I was a senior in high school, so that makes it 41 years old. I remember feeling very loved and quite grateful that she had taken the time to knit me a sweater and I wore it all through college. After college I moved to Florida so the sweater was put away in my cedar chest. I did wear it when I left Florida and moved to Syracuse, but I haven't worn it in several decades. Even though it's acrylic, it seems to have shrunk over the years, as I can no longer fit into it :-) It does still has a special place in my cedar chest, next to all the baby sweaters and booties that Sylvia knitted for my sons.

My grandmother taught me to knit when I was a young girl, but I wasn't really a knitter when I first met my mother-in-law. We never knit together and I regret that. For many reasons, she hasn't knit in years, but was generous enough to pass on some wonderful vintage patterns to me when she stopped knitting. When I knit a baby sweater, it's from the same pattern that Sylvia used to knit sweaters for her children and grandchildren.

Maybe someday I'll have a daughter-in-law that will wear my sweater and grandchildren that I can knit sweaters for with the handed-down patterns, but even if those things never come to pass, Sylvia's knitting legacy still continues, and I thank her.