Looking back through some old photos that I had, I came upon this ony. Here's Paw-paw in Joker from Rowan's Tiddler and Tadpoles. I made the largest size, big enough to fit a 10 year old and as luck would have it, a petite 80 year old. (She might look tall in this photo, but she was just about 5'1") She passed away 2 years ago but I still expect to see her whenever I go to visit my family. I like to think that she's still with us, if not in body at least in spirit. This new year was particularly poignant, because it also happened to be the second anniversary of her passing.
The yarn is Rowan's long discontinued chunky tweed, in black with brown flecks. I knew that Paw-paw would like such a sensible, stain resistant colour. The buttons cost more than the yarn. (Do you have any idea how much good buttons cost?) The yarn was on sale, but I wanted to choose the prettiest buttons that I could find... and pretty buttons from Liberty are often very expensive.
This is a pre-blog project, so I didn't get the detailed photos that I try to do now. The camera was also new, so I hadn;t worked out how to focus properly, but focusing in dim light was always a challenge. This colourway is so difficult to photograph. If you think photographing red is a challenge, try and capture texture in black.
I remembered that the yarn was a bit harsh, but after a few washing it was much softer, and Paw-paw was able to wear it without a silk scarf around her neck. Paw-Paw worn this sweater all the time. I would like to think that she did because I made it for her, but I'm inclined to think the stain resistant properties, coupled with the pockets (always full of tissues) and it's warmth were the real reason. (She really felt the cold in her later years, eventhough my dad kept the the house in sub-tropical temperatures).
It's a rather nostalgic photo for me... she was posing with the sweater, minutes after I sewed in the last thread. (She'd stayed up way past her bedtime thinking that I was going to be done at any minute, I had to modify the sleeves sllightly to achieve a better fit and sew them in, which took more than 2 hours. Sewing in dark yarn at night = yuck).
For the chinese readers, Paw-paw was my dad's mother. Technically, we should had called her Mar-mar, but in my father's village, the custom was to use Paw-paw... so we follow this custom (and confuse a lot of other Chinese people).