Sunday, June 13, 2010

Lopi sweaters washed to put away for summer

A few weeks ago, I washed the 3 Lopi sweaters I have knit over the years, to put them away for summer.  Here they are, drying on a rack.  The green one is the Astrid Pullover from The Best of Lopi book, and it's mine.  The 2 brown ones I knit for my husband, before knitting had much of a web presence, so they are not in my projects page on Ravelry.  I suppose I could put them in retroactively, but I don't remember the exact dates I knit them.  I remember what I was doing and what my life was like when I knit them.  "Knitted Memories" as Brenda Dayne says.  I started knitting the big one on the top during one fall/winter a few years ago, when I was working up in Augusta, Maine on a project, and away from home during the week.  It was comforting to have something from home with me to work on.  The one on the bottom was knit in the early 90's, from my first hand-spun yarn, which I spun on drop spindles, from fleece I painstakingly washed and hand-carded.  This was when we lived in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, a very pretty, quiet suburb of Philadelphia.  I listened to folk music on the radio (WHYY).   It really kept me in the present moment, and I remember that feeling vividly.  My husband loves these sweaters, and even though the oldest one is getting a bit ratty, he still wears it quite frequently, just around the house, or to shovel snow.  These sweaters are super-warm and comfortable, kind of like sweatshirts.  A winter staple in our house!