Inspiration

I'm always amazed by the things that inspire us. The magazine photo was very 1950s, but I instantly felt that this was something I wanted to knit. It was only after repeating the cable pattern about three times that I realized I was knitting it for my mother. It seemed to flow quite naturaly after that. I'm not quite sure how I'll manage the hood, I've never done one before and in the picture it looks a bit... elfin. Still, I believe it's something she'd like so I'll try to keep as close to style as possible. I've toyed with the idea of making the scarf longer than in the picture, and I might, at least a little. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that you should give gifts that suit the person who's actually recieving them, not the person you imagine them to be.

It was something of an epiphany for me when I finally realized that my mother's taste was always going to be different from mine. I remember it finally sunk in while we were staying in Hawaii for Christmas. I was going to get her what I thought was the perfect gift (I can't remember what it was, probably jewelry) when it occured to me that she was never going to use any of the things I got her. So I started to think about the kind of things she got for herself. Usually they were brown, (it seemed to be her favorite color) and if it was clothing she generally prefered it to have embroidery on it. Definitely not my style, but it was what she liked so I got her a brown leather eelskin cigarette case. She loved it, and ended up using it until it started to fall apart at the seams.

Well the scarf is purple, (her second favorite color). Here's hoping she likes it just as well.