Knitting by Proxy

I've written about my mother, knitter extraordinaire, in previous posts and how much I admire her beautiful skills at knitting.  She is one of those knitters who feels the design, who absorbs the pattern visually and works out the stitches first in her mind and then through her needles.  I aspire to get there, to be an intuitive knitter, and to use my eyes and fingers to guide me through.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can look at a beautiful sweater or scarf and figure out its construction by merely looking and touching.  But sometimes this kind of talent gets taken advantage of (not in a malicious way but in a funny way).  Years ago, a friend of my mother's who cannot knit asked my mother to knit a baby sweater for a friend's soon-to-be-born grandchild.  My mother knit up a gorgeous little design and off it went to this lucky baby.

The baby knit was thought to be made by my mother's friend (hmmm, I wonder how that happened?).  Fast forward to summer 2011.  Having loved the baby sweater, my mother's friend was asked to knit another, this time for an older child, with a luxurious french yarn in buttery yellow to be shipped to yet another friend living in Hong Kong.  

How could my mother refuse and expose the ruse?  Sheepishly, my mother's friend supplied the yarn, photo, and pattern and my mother went to work. But remember, she doesn't read patterns and so whipped up this little beauty with only a picture as her guide. 

To add a little flourish to an otherwise very simple cardigan, my mother designed this beautiful edging. Doesn't this story almost feel like a parable?  So, will my mother's friend ever be found out?  Probably not ... and somehow I think there are many knitters by proxy out there.