The Never-Ending Sweater by Erin Welch

How many hours does it take to knit someone a sweater? It’s hard to count, easy as it is to lose track of time while pursuing a labour of love. As each touch of the needle tips marks time, the knitter sinks into the texture, the patterns, the colours, and knitting become akin to meditation: thoughts of the eventual bearer of this care-imbued gift pull tenderly on the strand of wool. That the sweater, socks, or toque will bring warmth to their wearer is, of course not their true value: as anyone who has been lucky enough to receive one of these hand-knit treasures knows, what is precious is the connection between the maker and the receiver. It is ever a comfort to know that every time the sweater descends over the head, the knitter will come to mind, their smile appear, and their love infuse every interlocking loop.

Erin Welch’s The Never-Ending Sweater is a beautiful homage to intergenerational connections forged through making and sharing. This charming story of a young boy named Peter and the sweater his grandmother has made for him shows the power of love and connection in helping a child to develop, confident and self-assured, able to take risks and to venture out into the world.

When Peter is young, she crafts for him a purple sweater, just as he has requested, “too big,” which she has carefully designed to “survive the most exciting of adventures.” Peter’s childhood of cranberry picking and clamming by the sea gives way to leaving his village in search of new experiences, provisioned with only “a smoked-oyster sandwich, a tin of tea, three pairs of socks and, of course, his purple sweater.” Throughout his pilgrimage he relays his ‘most exciting of adventures’ to his grandmother, themselves often related to knitting, eventually returning to his Maritime home where the sweater reveals its deepest gift as a conduit and a continuity between generations.

I loved this story and found myself reminiscing about my own Nana and the sweaters that she made for me. What joy I found as a child in wearing my rainbow jacket, and to this day, when I look upon it and hold it in my hands, more than forty years later, I still feel her warmth and love emanating from every stitch.

Originally from British Columbia’s northern interior, Erin Welch moved to the East Coast in 2010. While she will always miss the mountains, she has come to know and appreciate the sublime beauty of the Acadian forest. Erin has a degree in English literature and is a mother to twins. She lives in Bear River, Nova Scotia.

Dorothy Leung is an illustrator from the suburbs of Toronto. She studied and worked in architecture before pursuing her illustration dream. She is the illustrator of When the Wind Came and The Bird Feeder. In her work, she strives to evoke empathy, nostalgia, sentimentality and wonder. Dorothy’s work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration and has appeared in publications such as The Walrus and the Globe and Mail.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orca Book Publishers (May 16 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1459834739
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1459834736

Christina Barber

Christina Barber is a writer and educator who lives in Vancouver. An avid reader, she shares her passion for Canadian history and literature through her reviews on Instagram @cb_reads_reviews. She has most recently been committed to writing and staging formally innovative single and multi-act plays.