“I’m more of a behind-the-scenes person” insisted my Mom when I asked if I could write a piece on her knitting for social good. I’m persistent and she relented last week after I described how this might encourage other people to do what they love for a cause.
Before the term “maker” achieved its newfound meaning and popularity there was my Mom, Pat White, making things. She made excellent Halloween costumes. She made curtains and clothes. She knotted jute into macramé things. She knitted for the church bazaar. She did it all before YouTube and before you could order your supplies online. All this while running a household, starting a nursery school, and working all sorts of nursing jobs. She imprinted me with a model of working in the world and I grew up thinking this is what everyone did.
These hands are never idle. Mom’s latest project are these (hold your snickers) Twiddlemuffs for people living with Alzheimer’s. People with dementia are often restless and like to have something to keep their hands busy. Mom would know this from first-hand experience: she cared for her mum, my Gram, for seven years through Alzheimer’s.
