In Her Hands...

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. - Proverbs 31:13

If you've followed my blog for a while, you've read that my mother-in-law, Evelyn, was an accomplished needlewoman. These are some of her sock darners - now mine. Reminders of a time and place when part of a woman's homekeeping skills included repairing her family's socks.

Handsome told me that Evelyn used to knit argyle socks. Knowing that, I'm sure that she took special care to keep them in wearable condition. In those days, you didn't throw away a damaged sock. It was, instead, repaired.

I love to make socks, and know how much goes into creating a pair, so I have a great respect for Evelyn's ability to make them using the detailed argyle pattern. How I would have loved to sit knitting with her, but we never had the chance.

One of my favorite family photographs.
Evelyn, with Handsome on the right and his brother on the left.

When I hold these tools, I imagine them in the hands of my elegant mother-in-law. I can picture her sitting in her favorite chair with a basketful of socks awaiting repair. I can see the bits of yarn she would use to weave a new heel across the well-worn wood of the darners. I can hear Handsome and his brother teasing her, and her good-natured responses. I can imagine the socks being restored to their former glory in her hands.

She was a woman who loved her family deeply, and cared for them, above all else, her whole life. These tools are precious to me because they represent that devotion. They also remind me of a more genteel, innocent time. I like that.