Knitting Baby Clothes – a Family Tradition

I am going to share with you a story about a woman who was taught by her mother on how to knit baby clothes and how she passed on her knowledge on skills to her children and children’s children.

When my grandmother was still on her prime, she would knit baby clothes to each of her children. Her children would always wonder, what makes so special about knitting? And every time she would answer them that knitting is provides a nice personal feeling for her, especially when she sees the knitted clothes worn by her children.

When I was a small kid, my grandmother taught me how to crochet. As soon as my plump little fingers could hold the needle without harming myself, she made no delay on teaching me how to knit. By the time I was six and grandma sights were already failing, she made me thread the needles for her.

At eight years old, my mother knitted a complete spring wardrobe for me. I specifically remember the items she knitted particularly that red trimmed handkerchief. She would sit on a corner and spend most of her time knitting my clothes. I can even remember up to now, the assortment of colors she used and the patterns came from my grandma which my mom used on the clothes she made for me.

I agree and would attest that there is indeed something special in handmade clothing. It goes beyond the designs used, the colors, and quality of the work. It seems there is something really magical that made me feel special every time I put them on. Maybe because I knew that every stitch and knot was lovingly made for me and my brothers.

So, when I got married and got pregnant with my first child, I felt the urge to knit baby clothes for my little one. I started planning out what clothes my baby would wear when she comes home from the hospital and started knitting. The problem is, the moment I started it was very difficult to stop. Knitting became endless for me.

Making clothes for our children is more than just being able to save money or design clothes that we would want our babies to wear. It is our way of showing our love to them.

As the years go by, I continued to sew, knit and crochet clothing for my kids. They have a wide variety of knitted items on their closet, dresses, blankets, hats, sweater, and even pants for each one of them. I never stopped knitting with love for them. Sometimes, I even wondered if this hobby is going out of hand, and I almost gave up on it when I came across something that tells me that I shouldn’t.

Recently I paid a visit to my 22 year old daughter. I saw the sweater I knitted for her draped onto her favorite teddy bear. The teddy bear was placed on top of her dresser. On her table was a blanket I made for her.

My 19 year old boy is now all grown up and lives on his own. Though there are items that he left in the house when he moved out, he never left the knitted blanket I made for him which he was wrapped in it on our way home from the hospital after my giving birth. He even creates clothes for himself which mostly are patches and other strange designs which I couldn’t figure out.

My 15 year old put away her party dress which I made for her when she was just six months old. And guess what where I found it? I found it neatly folded on her precious little treasure box, which contains special items that mean a lot to her.

My 2 boys, one is a 10 year old and the other is 12, has kept the blankets that I used to wrap them when we came from the hospital after my delivery. It became their favorite blankets.

So you see all the hard work and long hours of knitting eventually paid off. When they grow up to become parents and have families of their own, I sincerely hope that they will be able to pass on the knitting tradition and the story that goes with it to their children and their children’s children.