Tattie Weasle has tagged us both . The meme is to reveal a memory , be it a dark or a happy one . Smitonius did all the work on the last meme so I thought I'd do my share of this one tonight .
Like most children born in the '40s , I spent my early years encased in tickly wool , lovingly fashioned by female relatives , in this case possibly my uncle's girlfriend's mother .
There were still endless shortages and clothes for chubby , growing children were in short supply . In fact , about this time my cousin Elizabeth and I were each made a pinafore out of Harris tweed that had been someone's cousin's coat . Very tickly .
About three years after this photo was taken , my mother got hold of some lovely soft fine wool and knitted me a cardigan , even though she loathed making buttonholes . The trouble was it was beige . I hated it , even though she found little pink see-through buttons for it . "Look darling , aren't they pretty ! ". Father , nudged , joined in "Oh , yes . Very nice . Mary , where's my pipe? "
Anyway , I was dressed up in it the next day for school and sent off over the pink bridge and up the hill .
School over , I and friends leapt off back down the hill to the Botanic Gardens and the swings , the Kibble Palace ( huge greenhouse ) and the little lodge where Lillibet's Grandpa lived , along the Kelvin to throw sticks in and giggle at cuddling couples till my mother appeared and waved from the other side of the road . You could do all these things in 1950s Glasgow when you were 6 or 7 and no one worried about you , of course .
But , much to my mother's dismay , I'd lost the cardigan .... and to this day , I don't remember whether I did it on purpose .
14 comments:
I love it I absolutely love it! I can just imagine your complete bafflement as to where you had put it too!
Of course you won't have lost that cardigan on purpose, not at that age! But unconsciously, no doubt, you failed to notice it had gone. Same difference so far as results go!
The clothing-related hatreds of young children run so deep! And adults barely suspect it... I had a pair of shoes that I loathed, and that lasted for ages, despite all the scuffing and scraping I inflicted on them, and my son refused to wear an Aran sweater that he'd been seasick on, despite it coming up like new after washing. That one was a fight not worth having, with a stubborn 3-year old!
Did the same thing,mine was my first bought one though,revolting colour.So scratchy those clothes and socks.At least it makes us really appreciate what we wear now hey?
Of course you damned well did lose it on purpose. What else is a small person to do when clad in Old Man's Undies colour?
That is the cutest picture! How could your mother have resisted kissing those sweet little cheeks all day long?! Gorgeous sweater, too. So even if it was tickly, you looked adorable. :o)
I love the cardigan story...
♥
In the 70s I had a green wool trouser suit, a hand me down. I'm sure it was made from carpet, it was so rough and did rub so. I was made to wear it, and I loathed it. You can't really lose your trousers when you're out and about...
Ah, the curse and blessing of friends who knit or crochet!!! As a crocheter myself, I try to be uber-conscious of people's color preferences, so I won't inflict on them a gift that they wish they didn't have to wear around me. 8-)
This reminds me that we didn't have many clothes then - I have memories of no more than the clothes I wore for school, the clothes I wore to play in and a party dress. How my school kilt and jumper stayed clean from Monday to Friday I don't know - I'd only the one set and no memories of washing and ironing.
Oooo, you were a little tickly thing too? I remember a dark green affair knitted up from a grandad's old gardning cardy, and when it rained the dye ran.
Found you through Gretel's blog and very happy I did. You have a lovely little blog here and I will enjoy following you ;-)
scratchy wool, yuk.
never mind colour, I remember the itchy, scratchy feel for too well to be at all nostalgic about nice, home-made cardies.
But EVERYTHING was wool! Wool vests (cream coloured with cap sleeves - ahh!), liberty bodices, thick tights, wool skirts, wool coats and hats ... wool mittens that became like lead weights when they got wet. Thanks goodness for burning fossil fuels to make synthethics ... oh, there's a thought?
We'd get used to itching again.
PS: I meant to also say that the grandad whose gardening cardy was re-knitted was for some reason called by me 'Jumper' and he called cardigans a 'ganzy'.
Wonderful story, I can picture the scene so well.
I love your blog, such a good mix of tales and images. Thank you for your recent comments on my blog, I am pleased to have discovered yours.
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