Where it all began, part 11

Since starting this series of posts I've had all of my family, on both sides, looking out for knit-relevant photos from days of yore.

My aunt sent this one to me a few days ago (thank you, Kath!). It shows my uncle James, aged 8, skidding across a frozen pond in Bedford Park. He's sporting a rather nifty hand-knitted balaclava, which was apparently made lovingly for him by my great grandmother, Florence Violet (what a brilliant name).

Where it all began, part 10

So far this series of posts have been a bit biased as they have all featured my mum's side of the family.

I am going to have a rummage in coming weeks and see if I can unearth more from my dad's side, starting with this one that appeared in The Bedfordshire Times, which my Uncle James sent me over Easter weekend.

They are at a church fete apparently, roughly 1955. My dad (in the white turtle neck) was around 8 years old and looks like a miniature version of himself from some of the photos I have of him 20 or so years later, wearing adult versions of the same knitted sweater! He obviously had a clear idea of his style, even at an early age. My Uncle James is second on Dad's right and (according to James himself) is eyeing up a toy on the table that he was hoping to win....

Where it all began, part 9

More mustard knits! The Nash family (Grandma, Mum, great-Grandma & Uncle Christopher) perched on the rocks.

Where it all began, part 8

This one has no knitwear - I don't care! It's just such a gorgeous photograph.

[Mum & Uncle Christopher with the dogs]

Where it all began, part 7

My grandmother and great-grandmother must have knitted non-stop because the supply of knitwear was apparently never ending! This flecked cardi was obviously a popular one because both my mum (below) and my grandma (bottom) were photographed wearing it.

Where it all began, part 6

This is my favourite photo of my parents. My mum is sporting yet another lovely cardi that she knitted herself (I think she said it was angora), with my beloved Dad looking very smooth in his flat cap (with an extremely small me in his arms).

Where it all began, part 5

Here's another one from the family archive. I love how everything in this photograph is so blue! This is my mum, perched on a tree stump and surrounded by swans in a very cute blue cardi which would have been knitted by one of my great-grandmothers.

Where it all began, part 4

This shot of my great-grandmother is one of my absolute favourites. This one isn't even about the knit, although I'd wager that she made that one, too. It's her brilliant pose (that fish!) and the gorgeous dress she's wearing (which my mother assures me she also made herself).

It's such a beautiful, rich image and I find it really inspiring, especially now that I've started researching and gathering ideas for my SS13 collection.

[Great-grandma Dover with uncle Christopher and great-uncle David]

Where it all began, part 2

I love these photographs of my mum and her brother Christopher in their garden. They're each sporting some pretty fabulous knits (there's that mustardy gold again!), both of which I believe were the handiwork of one or other of my great-grandmothers. But I think their Dachshund Mitzy is feeling left out and wishes she had a fetching sweater, too.

[Mum, uncle Christopher & Mitzy in their garden in Portchester]

Where it all began, part 1

Last weekend I went down to the Isle of Wight to visit my lovely mum. While I was there I stumbled across a load of old slides of my mother as a girl, with her mum & grandmother. Some of you probably know that I learned to knit with my mum and my mum's mum (hmm, this could get confusing). So the thing I loved most of all about these shots that I found, were all the (mostly) handmade knits that kept cropping up.

The Nashes clearly had a penchant for mustard/gold around that time, as there are two or three different knits in that hue that make an appearance. It then led me to think that there must be a lot of other pictures from my childhood, where my knits or my mum's had some kind of impact on me and which have possibly inspired me since. So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to try and be a bit more consistent with this blogging lark and share more of these brilliant finds. Hopefully you'll enjoy the photographs even if you haven't a clue who the people are! Here's one to get you started:

[Mum as a girl with grandma]