Trip Down Memory Lane

Grandma slowly rocked back and forth in the rocking chair that she was sitting in. She sighed as she reached the end of a row of the sock she was working on. She set them down in her lap. She leaned back in her chair as she closed her eyes. Mouri walked into the room and sat down on the couch across the room from her. "Hey, Grandma," she started.

Grandma opened her eyes and looked at her, as she stopped rocking. "Oh. Hello, Mouri," she said with a smile. "How are you feeling today, Dear."

"Numb," Mouri said. She waved her hand to signal she didn't want to talk about it anymore. She pulled her legs up on the cushion and hugged them close to her chest. "Can you tell me a story?"

Grandma nodded slowly. "I can," she replied. She closed her eyes and started slowly rocking again. "Back when I was just a little girl..."

~*~

"Mel! Can you come here?" A Katragoon called from the kitchen.

"Coming Mother!" Mel called back from her room. She hopped off her bed and walked out. She closed the door to her room behind her before making her way down the hall. She stopped in the kitchen doorway. "What is it?"

The Katragoon turned. "Can you tidy up the living room? Baba will be here soon," she said as she put down the plate she had been drying.

"Baba's coming over?!" Mel squealed with excitement. She started bouncing in place. "When?!"

"She should be here any moment," her mother replied. "So go hurry up."

Mel turned and ran from the kitchen. She picked up the dolls that were laying around and sat them all next to each other on the couch. Once she was satisfied with how they were sitting, she climbed up on the couch next to them and watched the front door. She excitedly bounced in her seat waiting for the knock that signaled Baba's arrival.

After what felt like an eternity to the young Katragoon, there was a light knock on the door. "MOM!" Mel yelled. "MOM!" She flopped off the couch and started running to the kitchen when her mother walked into the living room.

"I know," her mother said as the young katragoon bounced alongside her to the door. "I'm getting there." She opened the front door. An elderly Katragoon stood on the other side.

"Baba!" Mel exclaimed trying to squeeze herself around the door to get between the two adults.

"Oh, my sweet girl," the elderly Katragoon cooed smiling down at the little one as her mother stepped out of the way.

"Baba! Did you bring the yarn?" Mel asked as she finally got between the two.

"I did," Baba said.

"Yay!" Mel exclaimed. She turned and ran back over to the couch.

The two older Katragoon chuckled at her. "It's all she could talk about since your last visit," her mother told Baba.

Baba chuckled again. "You know she gets that enthusiasm from you, right?" she asked.

"I'm aware," her mother said with a laugh. "I have a few more things to do in the kitchen before I can get started on lunch. I'll be in there if you two need anything." With that, she turned and walked down the hall back to the kitchen.

Baba stepped in closing the front door behind her. She smiled at Mel. "I see you brought friends with you to learn how to knit," she chuckled.

"Only Anna wanted to learn with me," Mel said pointing to one of the dolls. "The rest are here for moral support."

"Oh, I see," Baba said. She pulled a chair over so she could sit near Mel without having to move any of the dolls. She set her bag in her lap and opened it. She pulled out two skeins of yarn and held them out for Mel to take. Once Mel took both skeins, she dug into her bag again and pulled out two sets of knitting needles. She held one out for Mel. Mel traded one of the skeins of yarn for a pair of knitting needles. "Now watch me closely." She tugged at one end of the yarn to pull some loose from the skein. "You make a knot like this." She made a slip knot and put the loop on one of the needles.

Mel copied the motions. "Like this?" she asked holding up the knot.

"Exactly," Baba said. "Now to do what we call cast on you loop the yarn like this and slide it on the needle." As she spoke she looped the yarn onto the knitting needle.

"Like this?" Mel asked again as she mimicked Baba.

"Yes," Baba said smiling at her. "Now we'll do that a few more times."

Mel followed along as Baba showed her how to make the starting row as wide as they wanted it to be. Then, Baba showed her how to start the next row and what to do when they reached the end and needed to continue to the next row. Baba had Mel try a few rows on her own. As Mel was working on it on her own, she started dropping stitches. "Baba," she whined. "Why do I keep losing stitches?"

"You have to be careful and try to keep them on the needles," Baba replied calmly.

"Isn't there an easier way to keep the yarn on the needles?" Mel whined. "What about those hooks you use?" She jumped off the couch and sat next to Baba's bag. She started digging through it and pulled out two crochet hooks. "Couldn't I use these?"

"Those are for crocheting, Dear," Baba said. "I can teach you that next time if you still don't get the hang of knitting."

Mel climbed back on the couch with the hooks. She pulled the yarn off the knitting needles and started over but with the crochet hooks instead of the knitting needles. This time she was able to knit without dropping any of her stitches. Baba laughed as Mel concentrated on her project.

~*~

"And that Mouri," Grandma said opening her eyes again, "was how I learned how to knit."