I don't think anyone who was old enough to be aware of what was going on will ever forget the famous "giant leap for mankind" that occurred on July 20, 1969. I was home for the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at UCSB. Worse yet, I was helping Mom take care of Foofoo, my paternal grandmother, who was suffering from dementia and had come to live with us. It wasn't an easy summer; someone had to be with her almost all the time.
So when Neil Armstrong took that "one small step," it was not only exciting and suspenseful and amazing, but it lifted my whole family out of a rather dismal place. More importantly, it felt like a moment of joy and relief; the Kennedy and King assassinations had only happened the year before, the Vietnam War and the civil rights struggle were still in full swing, and, then as now, the country seemed to be in retrograde.
And, since it was after all on TV, I was probably knitting. I seem to remember going back to school that year with a bulky turtleneck made with three roughly sport-weight strands of some kind of shiny brown, orange and gold yarn, no doubt synthetic, held together. What? It was still the 60's, after all.
…when I turned around and saw this kit, and–well, I don't really have to explain, do I?
One or two of the people who had knit this shawl from this kit reported on Ravelry that they had run out of yarn, or come quite close. Since I tend to knit loosely, I went down to a US size 2 needle as a bit of insurance, and had yarn to spare in all three of the colors.
The pattern, from Arlene's World of Lace, is well-written and a pleasure to knit. I particularly enjoyed the slip-stitch polka dots. I like to think of them as representing those footsteps on the cold, silent moon, waiting for those peculiar creatures on that Pale Blue Dot to come to their senses and do great things again.
Truly beautiful! Always love your work and really love the family story. Great colors.
Why, thank you, dear! I hope you are still knitting lovely things!
Absolutely gorgeous – and thanks for sharing the back story.
Beautiful shawl and I love the background story. I remember the day of the moonwalk well.