Early last week, memories of the Eaton Centre Pingouin Store came flooding back, fuelled by the comments of local knitters who also frequented the place in the 80's.
It got me wondering how many of the knitters I know today were in that shop all those years ago when I was in there too... Maybe I once chatted with Lorraine...bumped into Sandra... noted how cute Lisa was tagging along with her mom Cheri to the yarn store as they chose some fabulous turquoise yarn with faux-silk slubs?
Its entirely possible my then brunette self saw Trish choosing yarn and wished back then as I do now for a statuesque figure on which to show off my hand knits!
That all got me thinking of my earliest days knitting when I struggled to sort out or even recognize dropped stitches. When I'd just change direction mid row or forgot to purl on wrong side rows. That was then the reality of my knitting but in my mind I was greedily optimistic in a rich, vicarious knitting "life" where I effortlessly (and without errors or even looking at my needles) cranked out one fantastic, perfectly fitting piece after another...those Pingouin images brought it all back like it was yesterday.
All that remembering prompted a re dedication of what should have been blogging time to instead digging up photos of the FO's I did manage to knit back then. Then, in an effort to reconnect physically with those Acrylic-filled evenings and weekends, I began madly dismantling my Bottle Green Pullover from those first days with my needles. (The two pairs that I owned at the time!)
By mid week that exercise had spun off into a frenzy of filing, purging patterns and remnants, sorting needles, receipts and taking pictures/cross referencing knitting notebooks, paper files and Ravelry pages. Hence a walk down memory lane joins up with today prompting thoughts of another Rabbit Hole adventure entering pre-blogging-knits onto my Ravelry project page.
(The infant hat exercise also underway last week had me wishing I could easily reference the details related to some of those long ago gifted baby pieces.)
Of course digging stuff up and filing is a far cry from entering 20+ projects onto Ravelry but I am seriously considering taking that plunge, especially since I've no big knitting targets at the moment. I haven't an idea for a sweater or a long-neglected one needing completion.
I'm down to the final crown decreases for the hat I cast on Sunday night and the only "place" there's a sweater's worth of yarn in this house is in previously knit sweaters.
Fond memories, intriguing possibilities and a wide open knitting horizon! (My Knitting) Nature abhors a vacuum. This can't last for long and you can be sure I'll keep you posted!
It got me wondering how many of the knitters I know today were in that shop all those years ago when I was in there too... Maybe I once chatted with Lorraine...bumped into Sandra... noted how cute Lisa was tagging along with her mom Cheri to the yarn store as they chose some fabulous turquoise yarn with faux-silk slubs?
Its entirely possible my then brunette self saw Trish choosing yarn and wished back then as I do now for a statuesque figure on which to show off my hand knits!
That all got me thinking of my earliest days knitting when I struggled to sort out or even recognize dropped stitches. When I'd just change direction mid row or forgot to purl on wrong side rows. That was then the reality of my knitting but in my mind I was greedily optimistic in a rich, vicarious knitting "life" where I effortlessly (and without errors or even looking at my needles) cranked out one fantastic, perfectly fitting piece after another...those Pingouin images brought it all back like it was yesterday.
All that remembering prompted a re dedication of what should have been blogging time to instead digging up photos of the FO's I did manage to knit back then. Then, in an effort to reconnect physically with those Acrylic-filled evenings and weekends, I began madly dismantling my Bottle Green Pullover from those first days with my needles. (The two pairs that I owned at the time!)
By mid week that exercise had spun off into a frenzy of filing, purging patterns and remnants, sorting needles, receipts and taking pictures/cross referencing knitting notebooks, paper files and Ravelry pages. Hence a walk down memory lane joins up with today prompting thoughts of another Rabbit Hole adventure entering pre-blogging-knits onto my Ravelry project page.
(The infant hat exercise also underway last week had me wishing I could easily reference the details related to some of those long ago gifted baby pieces.)
Of course digging stuff up and filing is a far cry from entering 20+ projects onto Ravelry but I am seriously considering taking that plunge, especially since I've no big knitting targets at the moment. I haven't an idea for a sweater or a long-neglected one needing completion.
I'm down to the final crown decreases for the hat I cast on Sunday night and the only "place" there's a sweater's worth of yarn in this house is in previously knit sweaters.
Fond memories, intriguing possibilities and a wide open knitting horizon! (My Knitting) Nature abhors a vacuum. This can't last for long and you can be sure I'll keep you posted!
6 comments:
I totally get this kind of reverie. I sent my first swatch as surprise to my friend Janelle, who inspired me to learn to knit. When I see it, I'm amazed at all it represents -- the extreme effort to learn something new, the easy-to-make beginner mistakes, and the promise of all the things yet to learn. I hope that last part never ends, for any knitter!
I still have Steven's swatch, too. Maybe I'll send it back to him one day!
When I look back at my early knitting attempts,knowing how hard it was and how I struggled to knit something even close to mistake-free, I wonder why I ever stuck with it. Just as I often wonder why the pioneers settled this country with so many obstacles in their way.
I definitely agree that knitters are always learning!
Wow I do like the idea of imagining we were all in the basement of the Eaton Centre checking out the French patterns way back in the shoulder-pad 1980s.
LisaRR
What I do remember about the Pinguoin store was the fabulous pattern books for children, and I think the only thing I have is a picture of my son wearing a tweed sweater from one of the books.
I was knitting alot for babies and kids in those days.
20-odd years later- it only gets more exciting.
Great reading yourr blog post
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