Farewell, beloved sweater

In the early nineties, my mother lovingly knit me a sweater.  She enjoyed knitting; it was a relaxing pastime for her, and she always asked what kind of sweater I wanted next. I requested this one long, and we chose the colour because it was one of my best ones on my personalized colour chart. I think the pattern was probably from the Canadian Living magazine, and my mother knitted it in nice, warm wool.  It took my mother forever to knit sweaters, but it was worth the wait. I revelled in its coziness.

Stephen to my right, and Nicholas on my left

Here we are in a little town in Slovakia with our friend Gitka and her son, Darius, eating a Slovak delicacy called langos. It's a garlic laden bread pastry, greasy but delicious.  The weather was cool, so wearing sweaters and light jackets was appropriate.
About 25 years later we live in a condo in Red Deer, AB.  I was supposed to downsize when we left our log house near Rocky Mountain House, and we did get rid of a lot of our "stuff".  I could never part with the sweater my mum made me, though.
Terry keeps the condo a little on the warm side, so no need for sweaters inside.  Somehow, other sweaters and  light jackets replaced my favourite pink one for outdoor wear.  
One day we went to the farmer's market looking for zucchini.  Since Terry was with me, I didn't really expect to browse very long.  My eyes were attracted, however, to a pile of brightly coloured sweaters.  Ecuadorian wool! I already had two of these (seen in many past blogs) and I loved them.  In fact, those were wonderful finds from thrift shops.  These were new, but because they hadn't sold for "many years", were marked down to $18.  I decided to try some on, although I hadn't planned on getting another sweater. No mirror.
Terry obligingly snapped several pictures with his cell phone so I could see how they looked on me.  Then when I'd made my choice, he said, "One in, one out!"  I agreed.  I could give up one of my other sweaters. The pink sweater took up the most room, so I finally decided to part with it.
My mother has been gone for 15 years now.  I had clung to the sweater all these years, a souvenir of my mum.  One by one, the things she had made or bought for me were worn out and gone.  It's time to say goodbye to the pink sweater, but I'll never forget how my mum would knit as an expression of her love for me.

Wool (70%) and cotton blend (30%)