Sunday 20 May 2012

"Baby Keepers"

My mom has a big box in her basement marked "Baby Keepers". It's full of baby clothes. My family has a long tradition of hand-me-downs. A lot of our wardrobe as kids came from my older cousins, and then got passed on to our younger cousins. But some things, mostly handmade, were just too special for my mom to pass on, so instead she squirreled them away in a big box and now that her first grandchild is on the way (my brother's baby is due this July and we're all so excited!) it was time to go through the box and pick out some of the special keepsakes that will get passed on to him. 

Mom and I did that earlier this week. I recognized most of the adorable baby knits from seeing them in old photo's, or even remembering my sister wearing them. But I haven't really looked at them since I've become a knitter. I picked out a few of my faves to share with you today because I was so surprised to see that even though some of these things are over 30 years old, they're still totally hip. 

Grammy's baby knits
colourful yoke sweaters by Grammy

Most of these sweaters were knit by my grandmother, she tended towards simple shapes, embellished with either seed stitch or garter stitch, sometimes both. When she hit upon a pattern she liked, she stuck with it (hence the photo above featuring 4 sweaters with the same yoke motif!) 

I love them all! But then again, you know I love just about all wee baby knits. But obviously, knowing that Grammy stitched every stitch in these precious little sweaters makes them all the more special.