{"id":4085,"date":"2015-04-23T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/?p=4085"},"modified":"2020-07-24T11:08:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T18:08:19","slug":"hope-and-the-baby-sweater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/?p=4085","title":{"rendered":"Hope and the Baby Sweater"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, let me say how immensely grateful I am to live in an affluent corner of a post-birth-control world.\u00a0 The very fact that knitting is a hobby we choose rather than poorly-paid women’s work is indicative of our vastly changed position in society. Women’s journey toward equality seems to me to be largely defined by our ability to choose whether and when to become mothers, a choice that we’ve only had (in some parts of the globe), since widespread availability of the Pill in 1960 or so – a very short time in history.<\/p>\n

\"Lush<\/a>
A little Lush cardigan<\/a> I knit long before ‘trying’ for a child.\u00a0 Knit in Sweet Fiber Merino Twist DK<\/a> in ‘something blue’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve had the luxury of making many of my own choices and defining my own life.\u00a0 While so much of life is down to chance, I have been able to make some things happen for myself and have worked to create a career and personal life that I enjoy.<\/p>\n

\n

But You Can’t Buy It<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reproduction is one of the things that the modern world has not conquered.\u00a0 Getting pregnant is something that we can\u2019t control.\u00a0 This can be difficult for us modern, independent women.\u00a0 We can\u2019t \u2018work hard\u2019 and expect it will come to us.\u00a0 We can\u2019t save up to buy it.\u00a0 We can\u2019t shop for it.\u00a0 It is something quite outside of our control.\u00a0 And there is a dark and sad side to it, as around one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage.\u00a0 Seldom discussed, this is a loss that a huge percentage of us will experience, first-hand or through the sorrow of a dear friend or sister.\u00a0 And tragically, some women are unable to conceive or carry a child to term no matter how long they try, which must be one of the most painful losses to mourn.<\/p>\n

\"Baby
A pile of sweaters knit while hoping for baby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the absence of control, that time when all we can do is wait and wish and wonder, what can we do?\u00a0 I advocate hope.\u00a0 For me, this hope was made real by knitting baby sweaters.<\/p>\n

When I was \u2018trying\u2019 for a child, I spoke with a knitter who had been ‘trying’ for 9 months.\u00a0 She asked if I had knit anything for my hoped-for child, and I told her about my growing pile of baby sweaters.\u00a0 I asked if she\u2019d knit anything for her little one yet, and she said that she hadn’t dared to, because she was uncertain whether she would conceive.\u00a0 Perhaps this is how you feel as you hope to become a mother, or are wishing for grandbabies.<\/p>\n

\n

Own Your Hope<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We all live our lives in hope, full of expectations for the future.\u00a0 Expectation that the sun will come out tomorrow. But sometimes we are so scared to admit hope for the things that we REALLY want, for fear that they might not come to us. For fear that hope will \u2018jinx\u2019 us.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong… I am a pragmatist despite my romantic heart.\u00a0 I didn’t go out and buy the whole kit and caboodle until I was 20 weeks or so along.\u00a0 But I doubted in my heart that baby sweaters already knit would make me feel MORE sad if I lost a baby, or was unable to have one.\u00a0 These sweaters were a physical symbol of my hope, but without them, my hope was still real.<\/p>\n

My story was a happy one.\u00a0 After 4 or 5 months of ‘trying’ and monthly mood swings when I peed on sticks and agonized that the process wasn’t within my control, I was suddenly pregnant.\u00a0 I was fortunate to have a healthy pregnancy, routine birth, and a healthy baby.<\/p>\n

\"Vivid<\/a>
Little Max, at 2 weeks or so, on a Vivid Blanket<\/a>, knit in Rainbow Heirloom Sweater<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your hope is there.\u00a0 It is real.\u00a0 It cannot be denied.\u00a0 Pain and change and loss are part of reproduction for a very high percentage of parents.\u00a0 And there is some pain and change and loss even when you have a smooth pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby!\u00a0 But I would advocate not allowing fear to stop you from owning your hope.\u00a0 And for me, part of owning that hope was knitting baby sweaters.<\/p>\n

\n

Hoping for Grandbabies?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many of our knitters are knitting for grandchildren, and I have heard many stories of knitters hoping for grandkids to knit for.\u00a0 I say knit away!\u00a0 Put those little baby sweaters in the \u2018bottom drawer\u2019.\u00a0 They will wait a few years until your children either reproduce, or somebody you know has babies who need woollies, or a good cause needs some beautiful hand-knits.\u00a0 There are always new babies popping into this world.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t pull them out when your kid brings their new partner over, PLEASE!<\/p>\n

\"Flax<\/a>
Max in a little Flax Pullover<\/a> (it’s a free pattern!), knit in Rainbow Heirloom Sweater<\/a> in ‘young temptress’ and ‘black cherry’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My Favourite TCK Baby Sweaters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Playdate<\/a>\"Antler<\/a>\"Flax<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all live our lives in hope, full of expectations for the future.\u00a0For me, I knit a tiny little wardrobe with hope for my future child. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2970212,"featured_media":4217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2622],"tags":[224790,324102,497926],"class_list":["post-4085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story","tag-baby-knits","tag-flax","tag-lush","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1z4ty-13T","builder_content":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.tincanknits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/blog-hopebabysweater-03.jpg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2970212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4085"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13443,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4085\/revisions\/13443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tincanknits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}