For my mom

This is my first Mom-mention. She turned me onto knitting in her own roundabout, parent-by-example way. Aside from getting all my creative genes from her, she was always crocheting, making beaded flowers and cake decorating when I was little. I used to watch her bead up wire, twist it around, tie a few together and end up with a bouquet. I'll never forget taking them out of the little vases she'd have around the house and bend and squeeze all the flowers out of shape. I'd carefully squeeze them back to their original state and place them where I found them, but always loved and would still love the way the beads felt between my fingers. As for the crocheting, she would make blanket after blanket for my brother and me. Always with three different colors, and always in the "charlie brown" zig zag pattern. She claims that's the only fancy pattern she could do while crocheting. I think she just likes the zig zags.

Strangely, I never picked it up when I was younger, more content to watch than join in. It would always hypnotize me. So over the years, her crocheting started me knitting; her cake decorating started me baking; and her beaded flowers... got me shopping for jewelry at Barneys? Oh no no, I mean - got me into beaded jewelry work. But it was only after 25 years did I pick up knitting. I've turned her onto knitting, but she still prefers crocheting. And I still prefer knitting. So, we make a pretty good team.

So I knit this scarf up for her - her most recently added color to her favorites list is purple. Me not being a super huge fan of bright colors, chose this Rowan Tapestry yarn with purple and gold to suit her current taste. This scarf was one of my first projects that I completed late last year. It already seems like a knitting lifetime ago. And I got the pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.