The Memories We Stitch

One of the strangest things, in my opinion, about being a knitter is the way we incorporate so many memories into whatever we're working on. I know that this has been discussed by many other knitbloggers, but my two most recent projects really brought this to the forefront of my mind.

First, Saffy. Over the past couple of weeks I've been breaking Baby Girl of all her co-sleeping ways. This probably should have been done a long time ago, but as with so many other things, although the long-term good was obvious, it was impossible to overlook the short-term difficulty. So, I put it off for way too long. Finally, a couple weeks ago, I decided that I'd had enough. She wasn't sleeping well and neither were we. One day I just ended it. From that day forward, she has slept exclusively in her crib. The first few days were torture. She screamed at least an hour before she would go to sleep and tried as hard as she could to get out of the crib. She was so persistent that she would actually fall asleep standing up. Of course, I needed something that I could work on to keep myself sane during these long crying spells. Saffy was the perfect company. Complicated enough to keep my attention and keep me from crying as well, but also simple enough that I didn't have to think too hard. I know I'll always think of poor Baby Girl asleep standing up whenever I wear Saffy (not that I'm even close to done with it, but you know, in the future).

Second, writing up the pattern for the Fishy Jumper, now named "Under the Sea Jumper" (thanks to everyone for the help choosing a name and special thanks to Elinor, who was the first to suggest the one I chose). This past week Baby Girl has been sick for the first time with a stomach bug. It's been so hard on her and by extension, me. I had no idea that it took such a toll on parents whenever their children were sick. I actually called my own mother to thank her for taking care of me all those times when I was sick. So, between the million dirty diapers a day, the forced consumption of Pedialyte, the sleepless nights, and the general anxiety, I was able to take advantage of the one semi-benefit of a sick baby - longer naps.

Do you have any knitted items that will always bring back specific memories?