Grandmothers of Knit and Purl

Both my grandmothers were born in January. As last week's brittle cold gave way to a thaw, I found myself walking and thinking of them. When I was growing up, they seemed quite different from each other. Grama-Grama Helen was born in Omaha in the early nineteen hundreds. She was definitely a city girl who loved costume jewelry and pretty clothing. Prior to being married, she and my Grandfather danced at Peony Park ballroom, went to movies, and ate at an old Chinese restaurant in downtown Omaha. Not so far away at the same time, Grandma Catherine was born on a farm in southeast Nebraska. Although she never talked about her courtship, I imagine it occurred at church and in her home. Both women lived through the World Wars and the Depression. Grandma Catherine and her husband lost a farm and moved to town. She was widowed in 1943. Grama Helen and her husband squeezed out a living in their small town when my grandfather accepted half-time wages for a full time job.  

Now I see similarities between the two women. Grama Helen attended the Methodist Church while Grandma Catherine was part of a supportive Mennonite community. Although two churches were different, both women had a strong faith. They both enjoyed music, baking, and cooking. Grama Helen made sweet orange rolls while Grandma Catherine baked hearty rye bread and a hard roll called semmel. They both sewed and did needlework. Grama Helen was an excellent seamstress and knitter. She taught me to knit. Grandma Catherine crocheted and did some sewing. Catherine liked to embroider and both women needlepointed. Helen went to Omaha to buy needlepoint supplies while Catherine ordered her from the Lee Wards Catalog. Sometimes Catherine would use a magnifying glass to count stitches in a magazine picture so she could make a project without ordering a kit or pattern. When she ran out of embroidery floss for a project she substituted another color. As I photographed this finished Winter Sky Textured Shawl, the wrong side flipped over and reminded me of my grandmothers, grandmothers of knit and purl.  On this January day,  the two women seem like two sides of the same fabric.

As my sore shoulder begins to heal, I am moving more and knitting less. I suggest any knitter pay attention to body mechanics before discomfort turns into pain. As I wrote in a previous post, knitting socks on two circular needles is better because I can rest my hands in my lap and keep my elbows supported and at a 90 degree angle. Metal needles with a reasonable number of stitches put less tension on my neck and shoulder. Recently, I happened to buy a pair of new Knitter's Pride Nova Patina circular needles that feel very comfortable to me.

Shawls that don't require pushing lots of close fitting stitches are best for now. Last week, I cast on a raspberry pink shawl which reminded me of Grama-Grama. To say that she loved pink is an understatement and a story for another blog post. Grandma Catherine was more conservative in her dress and favored navy blue and grays. Although I prefer blue of any shade, I also wear pinks and reds. Both remind me of my dear Grandmothers of Knit and Purl.

Watering the Cucumbers

The cucumbers growing in my raised bed are plentiful. Most years, I preserve the first batch of bread and butter pickles in late July. However, this summer I pulled the third batch from the canner on July 21. I've gone from platters of cucumbers to enough pickles for another year. This makes my family happy as store bought pickles don't have the same flavor.  

As the smell of vinegar, celery seed, and tumeric wafted up from the kettle, I thought of my grandmothers and great grandmothers. None of them had air conditioning. When my great grandmothers worked in farm kitchens, they hauled fuel to cookstoves and pumped water to clean vegetables. If they wanted a drink, they took a dipper from a nail on the wall and filled a glass from a pail of water on the counter. They emptied dirty water into another container and poured it on flowers and gardens. Great Grandmother Dickinson was relieved when she moved from a soddy in Custer County Nebraska to a Dawson County farm with a large windmill. Instead of collecting water in a cistern and filtering out bugs and weeds through a sieve, she used a pump in her yard. Even though it required hauling heavy buckets to the kitchen, she and her family were mighty grateful for more accessible clean cool water.

This July the temperatures have been in the high 90's or over 100 degrees. Lincoln has been without rain for 29 days so I've been watering more frequently. Trying to be conservative, I water in the evening or morning and lay the hose on the cucumbers. I use a drip hose to water tomatoes and basil plants. Now and then I put my Granddad's sprinkler in the herb garden. I learned about gardening from him so I enjoy using the small semi circular sprinkler with holes on the top. The sprinkler is so worn water runs through the seams along the bottom. Since it all soaks into the ground, I don't worry about the goofy looking spray. When I turn the water on or off, I place the hose near a plant in order to take advantage of the first and last drops of moisture. Whatever method I use, I minimize evaporation by making sure the water flows gently near the ground.

A few nights ago, I turned on the spigot before walking to the hose in the cucumbers. For a few minutes, no water appeared. After looking around, I straightened a kink in the hose and watched cold water disappear into large cracks in the ground. Those few minutes made me pause and wonder what life be like if I turned either the spigot or the inside faucet and no water was available. Then what?

The grass in our yard is brittle, brown, and going dormant while the large clump birch drops leaves. Mother Nature is conserving water for the trunk and root systems of these plants as there is no rain in the immediate forecast. Dear ones, known and unknown, take care in the heat and drink plenty of cool, clear water.  I'm heading to the basement with lemonade and my knitting for my last few days of summer vacation.