Knitstory 6: DeeAnn's Story

DeeAnn hails from Ohio (I give her a shout out because I live in Kentucky!)  She can be found on Ravelry as SmurfyKnits.

Well, as with most knitters, I learned how to knit from my grandmother a very long time ago. Of course, I was young and the lessons didn’t last long but somewhere in my being I must have stored those lessons and the joy of the yarn moving through my fingers. A lifetime must have passed and I found myself faced with a diagnosis of breast cancer. I decided that my daughter, who was 10 at the time, and my mother, and I, needed to join a “learn to knit” group. I thought knitting would provide me with something to do with my hands and mind during difficult times ahead. I think my daughter and mother put up with my idea because of our fragile situation and the desire to spend whatever time together that we could.

Little did I know that 5 years later, we would all still be knitting! We belong to a wonderful Saturday knitting group that keeps us all very busy. It has provided us with a place to share joys and sorrows but more importantly it has given us the craft of knitting and the bond that only women can share.

I have the wonderful position of watching my beautiful daughter, who is now 15, and my mother have a bond that will last both of them a lifetime. I have the joy of sharing endless knitting adventures with my daughter and the joy of watching other women influence her in ways that I would never have imagined possible. These wonderful women with needles and yarn in hand have helped me to survive breast cancer but have also helped me to raise a child into a young woman.

Who would have thought that those knitting lessons of long ago would have reached out to become the fiber of our lives - joining my grandmother, my mother, me and my daughter - together - with the love of knitting.