I have been putting off posting these photos for a month now! In fact, today is the one month anniversary of our anniversary for which this Cobblestone was knit. The photos that I took were, in my opinion, overexposed and not exactly what I had envisioned for sharing my biggest knitting accomplishment so far this year. Each day would pass and I would think to myself, "Tomorrow we'll re-shoot." and tomorrow would come and go. Obviously my hubby would have to model and his work schedule provides a narrow window of opportunity for taking pictures. Excuses. Excuses. So, I started asking myself why I was really putting off posting these pictures. I realized that I felt a lot of pressure on different levels. Cobblestone is the first sweater I have knit for my husband. Cobblestone was knit for our 7th wedding anniversary. I wanted to write an amazing post that expressed fully the beauty and pain that comes along with being married for that amount of time (or any amount of time). I wanted to be sure that you all could see how absolutely handsome my husband is since he really doesn't like having his picture taken. I wanted the lighting to be perfect. I wanted the day to be more than sub zero. I wanted so many things to be just right, perfect even. Then I realized how unrealistic that really is.
Flash back to 8 years ago on February 25th 2000. I am working as a soda jerk in a local homemade ice cream store and getting ready to close up shop, scoop my last scoop of the night, and meet my brother and his friend who has just returned from San Fransisco for drinks. I ask my last customer what type of ice cream they would like as I am looking past them through the big shop window a man walks by. Time stops and I literally drop my ice cream scoop and declare to the customer on the other side of the counter, "See that man walking in? I am going to marry him." To be honest I can't even really remember if that person got their ice cream or not. But you know what? I got my man! Turns out that guy walking past the window WAS my brothers friend visiting from San Fransisco. In fact we had met years ago when I was 14 and he was 21 and one of the best men at my brothers wedding. I am sure the age difference at the time caused him to slip by my radar but I remember my sisters sitting around and saying how hot my brothers friend with the long hair (the guy with the long hair being Greg) was.
Flash forward one year from that day, February 25th 2001. Greg and I married and promised ourselves to one another. One year had passed since we met and we had already moved three times, bought two cars and one house together. Greg quit his big time job in NYC and moved up to the mountains with me. We lived on love and hope. Took many risks and failed a few times but ultimately always succeeded. This set the pace for the last 7 years where we have bought and sold three more houses, had two beautiful children, shipped Greg's dream car over from France, Greg wrote his first novel, I learned to knit, among many other adventures.
But it wasn't easy. I am a child of divorce. I resisted marriage. It took a long time for marriage to feel good on me, a long time for me to realize that I am still me only married. Without Greg's patience, devotion and maturity I don't even honestly know if I'd be sitting here and writing this post today. As I write this , 7 years and one month after the day we married, I can say finally with all my heart that I can't think of a better thing that has ever happened than the day I met Greg. Through our union all of our dreams are coming true. The old and the new. This brings me back to the Cobblestone.
In so many ways it represents our path over the last 7 years. Of course, it is not perfect. The garter ridges symbolize the rocky road that marriage often entails. It has it's smooth sections too though. And just when you think it's all smooth sailing there are those cuff bumps again. No really, sorry to get all cheesy but how can I resist these metaphors. Really all I want to say is that I knit this for my husband, on our 7th wedding anniversary which is traditionally wool and/or copper, with complete and total love. I gifted it a few days late but no matter. Good things are worth waiting for. Like love.
So there is my post. It may not be what I had envisioned, also like the unrealistic expectations we so naively go into marriage with. But it is what it is. And I am happy.
More project details and more pictures on Ravelry.
**Does any one else find it ridiculously funny that the traditional 7 year anniversary gift is wool and there's the that old saying, "The Seven Year Itch"! Maybe THAT'S what that has meant all along!
