Kiddie Couture

Hi,

I knit. I knit a lot, and often, and compulsively. It's my therapy of choice. The only problem is there is only so many items of clothing I need, or want, to own. Therefore, I need bodies to clothe. I'm always on the hunt for new victims to make something for. Thank goodness my friends have finally started to become grandparents. I now have an endless supply of cute grandchildren to create hats, mitts, booties, blankets, sweaters, coats, dolls, socks, wraps and anything else they can think of with some fiber and knitting needles.

I have been knitting for over 40 years. I got started because my mother and grandmother always sat and knit in the evening while watching TV. I loved the sound of the needles clicking away. The problem was it never seemed to be 'my turn' to get a sweater. There was a pecking order depending on who grew out of what... and I didn't grow much so it was never my turn to get a new sweater since last years sweater still fit me just fine. Rats! So I decided to make my own sweater. I snuck a pair of knitting needles out of my mothers collection with a ball of yarn and found a book that showed how to get started, and off I went. A week later I was showing my mom what I had managed to figure out on my own. She then took up fine tuning my craft. How to hold the wool to even out my tension, how to read a pattern, casting on and off stitches and the tricks to finishing up a piece so that it looked as good from the inside as it did on the outside. The toughest lesson of all is how to rip out. Ripping out, what you have just spent hours creating, is the hardest part of learning to knit. It is painful to watch all that time and work unravel, but as any great knitter will tell you, it's a way of life for a true crafter. Leaving in mistakes, dropped stitches, or funky mishaps are the ultimate sin. Each piece needs to be perfect or the whole project looks like crap. You learn to rip, fix the errors and move on.

Knitting for children is the most fun. The funkier the piece the cuter it looks. Colours can be wild. Ears on hats, faces on mittens, bobbles, bells and whistles, they all work on kids clothes. Fun, fun, fun and it's fast work. Knitting a man size sweater is several months of labor, a sweater with a hood for a two year old I can knock off in a week or two of casual knitting. Three days if I really put the pedal to the metal. Hats or baby mittens can be finished in a few hours. I can get a a whole ensemble done during a marathon of Law & Order episodes. Lennie Briscoe inspires me to knit faster, I have no idea why.

Kid couture is my latest passion. One-of-kind children fashions. I fancy myself the Coco Channel of the under 5 set, without the little black dress. My audience is small and I like them that way. I have my own label that I sew into every garment with my name on it. I am my own brand and a select clientele own and wear my pieces. Total couture in every way since each garment is unique and made completely by my hands. Bring on your best Baby Gap, you can't hold a candle to me and my knitting needles.

xox
M