Sweater Season
and making peace with impermanence
I always forget how dark it gets this time of year, and we haven’t even set back the clocks yet. Between the thick blanket of rainclouds and an atmospheric river dumping overhead, good natural light is becoming scarce.
One must adapt with excessive soft lighting, tiny lamps, hot beverages, and steaming bowls of soup. I’ve moved the girls’ book baskets downstairs so we can do our schoolwork by the fire, and I’ve sifted through our wardrobes to ensure we all have raincoats that fit, boots that don’t leak, and woolen sweaters without holes.
This is usually the season where I mend the knits, but there was no need for it this year. Instead, I find myself considering an old box bursting with all the baby knits my children have officially grown out of. It makes me sad to pack it all away on the off-chance someone from the future will find them. Someone who knows how to handle woolens and would put them to good use.
What are the chances of that?
Knits made and gifted by others will remain as keepsakes. I’ll store them well with descriptions and care instructions and hope for the best. But as for those I’ve made myself, I’m considering different options. Perhaps I’ll gift or sell them. Pass them on to someone who can breathe life into them again, at least for a little while.
It’s something to consider.
Sometimes I feel like a bit of a monster for being so willing to release things that most would find sentimental. Really, it’s not that I don’t treasure keepsakes. But I also know that life is fleeting, and houses burn down, and dusty photo albums are stashed in attics and found years later unlabeled by people who don’t recognize the faces in them.
For me, a thing can sometimes feel like more of a burden than a comfort. Especially when it has no purpose beyond collecting dust in a corner that could serve some better use.
And there’s something to be said for clearing space. It makes me feel lighter. Lets the house breathe a little easier.
October Sweaters
The Catkin Pullover by Fox & Folk
My oldest daughter is going through a growth spurt and only has one remaining sweater that fits, so I cast on for the Catkin Pullover just before the school year started, finishing the more complicated yoke at home, and working on the easier stockinette portions while on campus at the girls’ charter school.
I knit this using worsted weight targhee wool that I dyed naturally with madder and walnut back in 2019. It took a month and a half to finish, and she wore it for the first time last week, just in time for fall. And bonus? It still fits.
For now.
The Lakes Pullover by Ozetta
It’s a rule of mine that I don’t knit for money, so if someone asks me to make them a sweater, they’d: 1. Better be a good friend whom I love, and 2. It better be a project I’m excited about with yarn I want to use.
If not, no dice. Life’s too short.
So this is a gift knit for a friend, but because I enjoy repeat knits and it’s a classic pattern that could go both masculine or feminine, I’d wager I’ll be making this again, and more than once.