A Piece of Her to Pass On

Sabah is a mumma to a son and his little sisters, and the maker behind the knitted booties, bows and garlands of Aayal Heirlooms.

She has a way of finding the whimsy and a bit of adventure in very ordinary days, the kind most of us are too busy to notice. A daydreamer through and through, always trying to hold onto the present moment whilst also dreaming up the next one.

A keeper of things

She loves nostalgia, and holds onto all sorts of things for the memories alone. Anything handmade especially.

Her own mum knitted outfits for her and her siblings. Sabah kept most of them, and her daughters wear them now too.

The first stitch

It all started in the evenings, once her eldest had gone to bed. She didn’t want those hours to just disappear, so she taught herself to knit. Her first real creative burst as a new mum.

What she wanted was to make things other families could keep for years too. Worn and loved and passed down, or saved in a keepsake box for their future grandchildren.

Her favourite days

Sabah lights up talking about her favourite days. Her husband home from all his work travel, breakfast together while she talks through every plan she has dreamt up, the coffee he makes her right when she needs it. The whole family piled into bed when the kids come jumping in. And talking to her sisters, every single morning.

The wisdom of harder days

On the harder days, she prays. When things get tough she’ll talk to God throughout the day, saying whatever she’s struggling with and asking for help. When she feels like she’s not in control, she says her worries out loud and leaves them with Him. Within that she finds great peace.

Her advice, if you asked her when things feel heavier: give yourself time, and give yourself grace. Don’t rush to make money from your craft. Enjoy it, learn it properly and share it.

“Hold your little ones close, because they grow up so fast, and one day you’ll be wishing you could go right back to these mornings.”

Why she makes

Aayal means family, and the whole brand is an ode to it. Ask her why she makes and she answers like she has already pictured it.

“So they hold onto these pieces and say, my mum made this. She made it while caring for us, while trying to create special traditions for us. She made it in the moments between making meals, doing laundry and setting up picnic lunches in the garden. She made it while tending to us on our hard days and sad days, while homeschooling, while going over every decision to give us the best childhood she could. She made it out of pure love, because she wanted us to have a piece of her to pass on. Tangled and entangled in her story, in ours, and in the generations to come.”

The Aayal card carries a poem, an ode to family: no matter the distance between us, like roots of a century old tree, we are bound together.