MY SWEATER OF MANY COLORS

 The other night  I watched a rerun of Dolly Parton's  "Coat of Many Colors". It reminded me that when I was young, my Grandma knitted me a sweater of many colors. It was actually made with variegated yarn in red, yellow, blue, green and purple. She knew I liked bright cheerful colors.  Every time I wore it, I  could feel  Grandma's love around me in every stitch.  She and her sister both loved to knit and crochet. She made afghans for a couple of our close friends when they graduated high school. She made one for my sister and her family. Even when Alzheimers overcame her, her hands would be busy with invisible yarn, making another afghan. She taught my Mom also, and Mom carried on the tradition.  She made an afghan for our ministers daughter as a wedding gift. She'd make little sweaters for our dogs to wear when it was too cold outside. Besides knitting and crocheting, Mom would make a lot of clothes for my sister and I.  Back then it was still cool to have mother and daughter matching outfits and she'd make them for the 3 of us sometimes on special occasions. Just like everything Grandma made--you could feel the love in every stitch. She made my sister's wedding dress, and when I was maid of honor at a friend's wedding, she made that dress for me.  I still remember us going shopping with Mom and if we'd see an outfit we liked, Mom would look at it, then the price, and say "I can make it for less than that." Mom learned from Grandma to put love in everything she did for her family.  Even the first few grandkids had outfits made for them. After a while, she couldn't keep up with all the grandkids and she had arthritis. But the love is still there. Not all of us are as poor as Dolly Parton was, but most of us remember something our grandmother or mother made for us, and we treasure the memory.