Knitch Magazine

Jackie's kids enjoying their sweaters.To many of us, an ambitious project might be a particularly difficult sweater. Or maybe an exquisitely complex piece of lace. But to one knitter, who is blessed with 16 members in her immediate family, her ambitious project was one that literally knit the family together. Armed with needles, dozens of balls of Berroco Weekend yarn, and an astounding measure of determination, Jackie Moore embarked on a project that most of us would consider the feat of a lifetime: she knit every single member of the family a sweater to wear at a reunion.

Jackie Moore started knitting as a young girl living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a part of the country many of us associate with Amish farms, antiques, hand-made quilts, home-baked goods, and country crafts. Her mother was a dress designer who taught her to sew and knit while she was still quite young. The two worked on many projects together, and eventually Jackie's exceptional sewing skills earned her prizes in local competitions for the outfits she made.

It wasn't until she was in college that Jackie decided to get really serious about knitting. One weekend home from school, her mother got her started with a cabled dog sweater for her miniature schnauzer. With the helpful advice of her talented mother, she finished the project in two days. Thus began a lifetime of dedicated knitting.

While she was busy earning her bachelor's degree in music, Jackie continued to practice and improve her skills in the craft. Soon she was knitting for her trumpet-player husband, John, and then for her five children: Kristin, Kimberly, Katherine, Hannelore, and Johnny.

A woman of tremendous talents and energy, Jackie was able to keep up with her knitting and her children while she enjoyed a successful career playing viola that began in Philadephia and took her to Maracaibo, Venezuela where she played with the National Orchestra. Over the years, she performed with such well known stars as The Moody Blues, James Taylor, Frank Sinatra, P. Diddy, Steve and Eydie Lawrence, Tim Conway, Dionne Warwick, Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo and Rudolf Nureyev. She has also been a principal player in the South Florida Symphony, Miami City Ballet and Florida Grand Opera. And throughout all this, she continued to enjoy her hobby of knitting...even pulling out her needles in the pit during a performance!

Today, Jackie enjoys sharing her love of knitting and her patterns with her stand partner and carpool mate. Their motto is, "Violists who knit together, stick together!"

She confesses, "I’m a professional musician and have spent years playing for ballet and opera in the pit. It’s a great place to take my knitting. I’ve spent many an intermission working on and finishing Christmas gifts!"

As the years went by, and Jackie continued to enjoy her musical and creative endeavors, her children grew up and as so often happens, Jackie's family became widely dispersed throughout the country. But that didn't stop them from enjoying one another's company.

Every year or two, Jackie's children and mother make an effort to go away together for a week of summer vacation. This increasingly popular trend is a fantastic way for families to maintain strong relationships while experiencing new locations together. Those memories of brothers, sisters, cousins, parents and grandparents sharing precious time and activities last a lifetime...and encourage the next generation to do the same.

Jackie's family likes to choose a different location for each vacation, and have enjoyed family gatherings in places like Knoebel’s Grove, an old-time, family-run amusement park in Elysburg, PA and a house rental on the Gulf coast in Captiva, FL. Their most recent week of vacation was in the new Las Vegas home of Jackie's eldest daughter, Kristin.

It was this gathering that inspired Jackie to take on a task many of us would find almost impossible: she decided to knit a sweater for every member of the family.

"We always take a lot of family photos," she says. "I love to make things for my family and my goal has been to make a sweater for each of them — so far, five kids, three sons-in-law and five grandkids plus a husband! I thought it would make a nice picture to have all of us in sweaters, different shades of blue and green."

With a lot of yarn, a lifetime of learning, and an indomitable spirit, Jackie started her knitting in January and accomplished her goal in June. Now everyone in her family boasts a beautiful, hand-made sweater to treasure for the rest of their life.

"I don’t know if they’ll be passed down as family heirlooms," Jackie tells us. "They seem to be 'work-a-day' to me. I’m hoping that when they each have an afghan for their families, those will be passed down."

"I know they all appreciate the gifts I’ve made them and one day I think they’ll have the desire to do that for their families."

When Norah Gaughan of Berroco learned of Jackie's project she said, "The team at Berroco is so proud and thrilled that Jackie chose our Weekend yarn for her massive undertaking. When we designed this yarn we were aiming for versatility, wearablity and washability. We were also hoping that the finished items would have a broad appeal for the whole family. How exciting to have Jackie prove that our work and hopes were well founded. "

Norah also said, "We also love the idea that the sweaters Jackie made are utilitarian. What better compliment than to see the fruits of her labor being worn constantly and enjoyed. Kudos Jackie! Thank you for choosing Berroco and may your family have many happy memories of your love and efforts."

Jackie with her mother who taught her to knit.As you'd expect, Jackie is about to embark on another wonderful project to thrill her close knit family. We won't be the least bit surprised if she chooses another fine quality fiber from Berroco.

If you'd like to knit your family together, here's how Jackie suggests you approach your project:

1. Do your homework. Research. Plan. Enlist the help of others. Ask questions.

Before you even begin, you want to speak to the recipients about what they'd like to have. You don't want to make everyone a cardigan or a toque if half the recipients never plan to wear them! Jackie made sure that everyone knew exactly what she had planned, and that they all had some input into the process.

2. Make sure you have enough time.

There's nothing worse than burning the midnight oil to complete your project at the last minute. That last-minute rush can turn what is intended to be a happy endeavor into a stressful chore. But, as we all know, even the best laid plans of mice and men...

Jackie cautions, "The original plan was to take our week vacation in early August, but air fares dictated that we change that plan. We ended up flying to Las Vegas on June 8! I actually started knitting around the 22^nd of January and had completed thirteen sweaters by June 8."

It was a good thing that she'd gotten the family's input on the design because the patterns they selected were simple enough to complete fairly quickly.

"I knew I didn’t have to finish one son-in-law’s sweater by June," she says, "because he couldn’t spend the week with us and we knew we’d have to Photoshop him into the picture. My mother decided last-minute to join us and I wasn’t able to get her sweater done by June 8."

"I do know that if we would have been able to keep the original week, I would have had all sweaters done!" she insists. "I have the yarn for these last three sweaters. Greg’s sweater is 3/4 done, my mother’s is 1/3 done and mine is started. I don’t know that I’ve ever knit anything for myself!"

3. Carefully select the patterns you'll be using.

Jackie says, "I actually chose about five different patterns for each — men’s, women’s and children’s — and let my girls decide which one: for the guys, for the girls and for the kids. Some of the girls had experience with “what to wear” for a photo and they chose fairly simple patterns for each...for which I was later very glad!"

"If I had chosen the patterns, I would have done cables," she tells us. "I was very thankful that my daughters chose simple patterns. I only had to contend with boredom, but I managed the boredom by changing shades and going from men’s to women’s to children’s — no two alike in a row!"

Jackie selected the following patterns for her project:

• Denim-style Men’s Drop Shoulder Sweater — This pattern came in many sizes for which Jackie says she was grateful!
• Shapely Stripes Pullover — Jackie created it without the stripes.
• Ahoy, Matey Sweater — Jackie didn't use the stripes and skull and cross bones.

4. Choose the right yarn for your project.

Jackie used Berroco Weekend yarn, a terrific acrylic cotton blend yarn that's available in worsted and chunky weight. She says, "I did some searching among the websites. I knew I wanted a cotton or cotton blend yarn because of the time of year. Since our last photo was on the beach and I thought maybe this next one would be too, I thought different shades of blue, or a blue-green would be nice so I wanted a yarn that was available in at least six shades since I have five children. "

5. Select the right colors for your project.

It 's a nice individual touch to allow recipients to choose their color, and Berroco Weekend was a good choice because of the dozens of colors in its palette. Jackie had a color scheme in mind when she started searching for the right yarn, so she was delighted with the range.

"When I bought the yarn," she tells us, "the Berroco Weekend had more than eight shades in blues and greens. Each of my children chose their own shade and I must say, none of them chose the same shade, so that was easy. There were two other shades we liked so we chose them for the grandkids and my husband and I each had our own shade, too. Then my mother decided to join in the fun and chose a green."

6. Make sure you check the gauge.

How many times do you read this in a pattern? That's because it's so important! While every man who's ever embarked on a home project knows, "Measure twice, cut once," every knitter should know to check her gauge. Some very sharp knitters do this by starting on a small part of the pattern, like a sleeve, and then making the measurements. That way, they don't feel there's been any time wasted while they've knit a swatch to confirm they're knitting the pattern according to specifications.

7. Confirm the sizes.

It would be heart-breaking to put all that effort into creating a gift and then have it not fit! Jackie suggests that when making the same sweater for different people in your family, you ensure that you check the sizing. She says, "I knew my husband would need a large and I was pretty sure my son would need a small. I thought one son-in-law would need a large and the others would need mediums; all the sons-in-law thought they would need large. I made my son’s and husband’s and then had each son-in-law try them both on."

It turned out that her initial inclination was correct: she needed to make another large and two mediums.

"With the girls," she says, "I knew my granddaughter would need a small. My daughters thought they would need mediums. I made the small and then each tried it on. I ended up doing three more smalls and only one medium. "

The Moore family poses in their handknit sweaters.While she had to mail some of the sweaters to check the sizes, she says it was well worth the trouble.

8. Make everyone the same gift, but keep it individual, too.

While everyone loves how you've created a special gift for each family member, they're even more thrilled when you personalize the gift by adding to it something special you select just for them.