Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not… nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not… unrewarded genius is almost legendary.
Education will not…. the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
[Calvin Coolidge]

I met Theresa Miller at Meg Swansen’s knitting camp about fifteen years ago. She was with a group of knitters from Dayton, Ohio. We all became friends and I’ve been attending Dayton Knitting Guild events ever since. When we lost our Theresa several years ago, her daughters shared yarn from her stash with us. Mine was green and white.

Theresa loved intricate designs and two-color knitting so I decided I’d design a sweater pattern that she would have liked to knit. I’ve been working at it off and on ever since. There has been a lot of starts and stops, raveling and unraveling. I frayed Theresa’s yarn so badly that I bought Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight in the same colors to re-knit it. I started at one side of the yoke with a waste cast on, knit the bodice pattern, right sleeve and neck band, then picked up the live stitches and finished the left sleeve. While I worked, I left an opening at the lower edge of the yoke. I picked up stitches (288) around that opening and knit the body of the sweater down. While I persisted, I carried fond memories of Theresa’s kindness in my mind. Last week, I finished it. May I present Theresa’s, sweater.