A Family Tradition

Family traditions mean a lot to me. Maybe that is because we live so spread out around the globe that anything connecting us takes on a new meaning, and we cherish even the silly and the minuscule.
Knitting socks has been one tradition. (As you can see on the photo, and that is only the socks that where clean, not traveling with the husband, worn or to be fixed up. 2 generations of women represented, in no particular order.) My Mother has always knit socks for me and my sisters, and then they started as well. I was the last one to learn, socks have been my nemesis for years and years and man was I bursting with pride once I cracked the code! We all ended up in a sort of competition, with my Mom dropping out first because she just can't with her joints and is simply to dignified for such silliness, and then my oldest sister just produced so much that I was wondering if she secretly hired some other people to help her... she won hands down.
And then she died this February, barely 7 years older than me and with no apparent cause she was just gone, and her socks sit in my dresser drawer just to be taken out and looked at , cuddled and put back once in a while. Knitting is like a connection, I inherited her wool and her needles, her knitting books and her tricks. And of course there is so much more to be remembered and cherished about her, but the love she made our socks with just makes them special and knitting socks a tradition worthy to be mentioned.