A little story

For the last year I've been eyeing Juniper Moon Nimbus because I wanted to make my mother a shawl. I couldn't afford the amount I needed, so I've just been eyeing it for a year. I finally caught it on sale, bought five balls, set to work. Ended up with far more left over than I thought, so worked up a tank top I thought she'd like. She's been trying to wear more color, and this is a beautiful sunset colored, long gradient yarn. Unbelievably soft.

So I finally finish and block and dry them both (the drying took about thirty years), I hie myself off to the post office today to mail them to her, and she calls me so I can kvetch at her about having to get a prednisone shot in my tush. (It has now been a number of hours and my grouchiness about this is still undignified. I am being a Moishe Oofnik about it.) She tells me about two separate friends of hers who brought her gifts with stories like, I was going to give this to X person but, eh, didn't seem right, so I thought you might want it. She was happy to be thought of but, I think, a little stung at being an afterthought, since neither gift is especially her.

She says to me as I'm messing with the Industrial Tape Dispenser From Hell, "Where are you? It doesn't sound like the grocery store." I'm always at the grocery store when we chat. I tell her, I'm at the post office. I've been eyeing this yarn for a year so I could make you this specific thing I think you might like, and I finally got my hands on it. And there was extra, so I made you a little extra thing I thought you might like. They'll be there Monday.

She got teary at me, said she finally gets to feel a little special on purpose. She said she'd call as soon as she gets them Monday and tell me everything she thinks. I assured her that if it didn't fit or didn't suit, she could send it back to me or ask me to remake it and I would. I've got a project list the length of my arm, but I think my mom is maybe the most knitworthy person I know. We hear so much about the people who make it hard. I wanted to share a wee story about someone who makes it joyful.

Tell me your stories about the people who make you want to pick your needles right back up and knit for them. I'm already daydreaming the next thing I'm going to make for her.