The Little Red Mitten

I am in love with a little red mitten.

This little red mitten is more than just a little red mitten, although if it were just a little red mitten, that would be enough, because the world needs little red mittens.

This little red mitten is the first knit item I have completed on my own at home with the two boys. (I finished an adorable stuffed hippopotamus during the time that Greg, my mother and my in-laws were here helping, which is not the same thing at all.)

This little red mitten means that maybe, just maybe, I can do this. Maybe I can have two kids under two and get something done besides laundry and diapers and making sure no one goes hungry. Maybe I can be the mom I want to be, the mom like my mom, the one who knits not just mittens but sweaters and socks and blankets. That somehow finds time to wrap her kids not just in wool, but in love and their favorite colors. The mom who knits for herself, too.

This little mitten means I refuse to just survive each day, that I will find time for things I love besides my children. That I will do more than just make it to bedtime and start again tomorrow.

It wasn't always relaxing. Sometimes I knit four stitches, picked up the baby, set down the baby, knit another row, picked the baby back up. Sometimes I knit with Andrew in the baby carrier, maybe four whole rows before Will woke up from his nap.

But little by little, stitch by stitch, I have finished one little red mitten. I don't even need this little red mitten this season, it's meant as a Christmas gift for Will, or maybe even a birthday gift so he has it for any chilly November and December days that fall before the receipt of Christmas mittens.

So ahead of time, stitch by stitch, I have managed one little red mitten.

And I am in love with this little red mitten.

Time to start the next one.




The Hippopotamus I knit for a baby shower gift while all my help was here!