Sweet Sixteen

It was difficult to decide where to begin this post.  Do I go back to the first thing I ever knit you? Because it wasn't this Rasta Hat, Zoe. The "Every little thing's gonna be alright" hat was a last-minute-knit before I went into labour.  You were born the winter that Toronto Mayor, Mel Lastman, called in the army to shovel our mounds and mounds of snow -- it suddenly dawned upon me, a couple of days before you were born, that you were going to need some extra special warmth on your lid. 

Even though the first thing I ever made you that touched your skin was indeed the Rasta Hat, the first thing I ever knit for you was your baby blanket. I learned how to master cables with that project.  It was right then and there in the yarn store, with my belly protruding, that I decided there would be none of that placid "pastel shmastel" baby yarn business for any child of mine.  Also, having firmly decided that I did not need to know in advance whether you were a girl or a boy, strong, gender neutral colours were decided upon.  Good choice, it turns out. There's nothing placid about you, my dear. 

Every kippah, sweater, dress, or top has been saturated with pigment, and even if there was a soft and delicate colour in there, you suggested I pair it with a bold contrast hue.  My girl: always sassy, strong and sure of her opinion!  Whether it was an "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution" dress, cool cotton tank, or good Lord, do you remember that peacock-blue hoodie that I knit out of eyelash yarn? (You chose both the colour and the yarn, never forget that, my dear...giggle...giggle)

And then, came your Bat Mitzvah. First, when you were twelve: BAT MITZVAH SOCKS.

http://knittishisms.blogspot.ca/2011/01/bat-mitzvah-socks.html

Then, when you were 13: your TALLIT http://knittishisms.blogspot.ca/2011/11/zoes-tallit.html

Then allllllllll those KIPPOT.... nuff said.... http://knittishisms.blogspot.ca/2012/02/knit-your-own-bat-mitzvah.html
 

Now you are sixteen. It is overwhelming to think that you're not a little girl anymore!  Thankfully, I finished these "Socks for the 'young woman' who rocks my world" just a few short weeks before my accident (phew!)  I needed you to know just how much I love you, and hand-knit socks from your mum, is a definite indication of just that.  As I wrote in Knittishisms:

"If someone makes you a hand-knit sock they really, really love you. Why?  Because a sock is knit with what essentially are toothpicks and dental floss, the knitter must screw up their eyes to keep track of those teeny tiny loops and learn to master a perfectly turned heel flap -- not to mention putting a knot in their neck to do it -- and in the end, voilà, a sock... You see, you know they really, really love you... because THEN they make you a SECOND SOCK TOO!"  Yes, my beloved sweet sixteen: I love you THAT much. Happy Birthday!