Woolen diapers

I'm editing a translation of my Chinese grandmother's memoir; my grandmother is now in her eighties, but shortly after my grandfather died, over 20 years ago, her children (8 of them, pictured with her in July) asked her to write down her memories of her youth and the earlier years of her marriage.  My mother and two of my aunts just got around to translating the memoir from Chinese into English a few months ago.

Sto curando una traduzione della memoria della mia nonna cinese; mia nonna ha superato gli ottant' anni, ma fra poco dopo mio nonno e morto, piu di venti anni fa, i suoi figli (8 di loro, nella foto con lei) le hanno chiesto di scrivere le sue memorie della sua giovinezza e gli piu prim' anni del suo matrimonio.  La mia mamma e due delle mie zie hanno appena tradotto la memoria dal cinese all' inglese, alcuni mesi fa.

A couple of excerpts/Un paio d' estratti:

[Early 1940s, Shanghai]:  "Even with a servant, I was busy.  When there was free time, the servant would help me make cloth shoes for the children.  Four pairs of shoes were needed for each child not counting slippers.  This was done during spring and summer.  Fall and winter seasons were taken up with knitting sweaters."

[I primi 1940s, Shanghai]:  "Anche con una domestica, ero occupata.  Quando c'era tempo libero, la domestica mi aiutava fare le scarpe di tessuto per i bambini.  Quattro paio di scarpe erano necessario per ogni bambino, non incluso di pantofole.  Questo era fatto durante la primavera e l' estate.  L' autunno e l' inverno era consumato della lavorazione a maglia, per fare i maglioni."

(No wonder Grandma always knit so fast, and never bothered with patterns!/Ecco perche' Nonna lavorava sempre cosi velocimente, e non si dava mai la pena di usare i modelli!)

"My second daughter...was a very quiet and obedient child.  When her brother was born, she already knew how to knit woolen diapers for him."

"La mia figlia seconda...era una bambina molto tranquila e ubbidiente.  Quando suo fratello era nato, sapeva gia come a lavorare a maglia i pannolini di lana per lui.

(And I thought knitting dishrags was a wasted effort!/E pensavo io che lavorare a maglia gli strofinacci fossi un sforzo perso!)

All I can say is, what a luxury it is to knit for entertainment, for curiosity, for the love of special fibers and beautiful and unusual garments, and finally for the pleasure--and not the necessity--of crafting things with your hands. 

Devo dire, che lusso, cioe il lavoro a maglia per divertimento, per curiosita', per l'amore delle fibre particolare ed i vestiti belli ed insoliti, e finalmente  per il piacere--e non la necessita'--di fare qualcos' a mano.

Comments

[connie]

Fascinating, angela. It is a luxury to knit for pleasure rather than necessity and to have access to the fibers we have now. Incidentally, my grandmother taught me how to knit when I was 6 or 7. She knit a lot when I was a kid, but I always hated the sweaters because they were really scratchy.

[Persnickety Knitter]

Editing your grandmother's memoirs sounds like a great project. What a fascinating glimpse into the past. And it does make you realize how easy we have it (in some ways).

[Typesetter]

In Pieve Santo Stefano, on the border between Tuscany, Umbria and Romagna, there is the National Diary Archive, which collects diaries from the whole Italy, and probably also from abroad. Consider contacting them and having them collect your granny's diary in their files, or maybe put you through with an English- or Chinese-language counterpart.

[Typesetter]

Puch! The website for the archive is: http://www.archiviodiari.it/default.htm

[Katinka]

When I was growing up, my mom sewed the majority of our clothes (and later, prom dresses and such). But it was done because of financial necessity, and so it always seemed like drudgery to her. Now that there's no need, she doesn't go remotely near anything "crafty", and that makes me sad! At least the bug bit me -- I've been up until the wee hours the last two nights, finishing up my kids' Halloween costumes. It would be much easier to just buy costumes, but where's the fun in that? ;)