Shrug

I’ve not been able to love on The Most Adorable Granddaughter in the World#4 as much as I would have liked to since her birth three weeks ago. Not that Son#2 and DIL#2 have kept her all to themselves and refused to share her (in fact I think they’ve felt bad because we haven’t been able to have more cuddles) but there have been feeding issues which have meant that more important things have had to come first (and rightly so).

At one stage I visited and struggled to hold back tears when I saw the colour of our precious little girl and realised that she was failing to thrive. DIL#2 had recognised that The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 had seemed lethargic and had rung her midwife. The scales confirmed that she had indeed lost weight and thus began a round of trying to get enough nutrients into her while still trying to sustain nursing. For some reason, The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 was reluctant to cooperate despite letting us know in no uncertain terms that she was hungry and wanted food NOW.

Because I wasn’t able to shower her with cuddles and kisses, I pulled out my knitting needles and found another way to love her. I decided on this tiny shrug with three-quarter sleeves (and she looked gorgeous in it when she wore it to church yesterday – her first real outing out – mind you, she would’ve looked gorgeous whatever she'd worn) and it gave me something to do while all the time thinking and praying for the youngest member of our family.


I will readily admit that I broke all the rules with this pattern. I used a yarn other than the one specified in the instructions (but I was fairly confident that I knew what I was doing and how to make allowances for different tensions/gauges) and I didn’t ensure I had enough yarn with which to finish the project. I had one ball of merino baby wool that I’d bought last year that I wanted to use up. Looking at similar projects I thought that I would have enough to make this shrug. I would have too if The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 had only had one arm that needed to be kept warm. That’s right, I ran out on the second sleeve.

A quick trip into town failed to turn up another ball of wool with the same dye lot. DH took down all the pertinent details and looked in a shop in another town but still no success.

What to do? Well I had a few choices. I could undo it and knit up something else. I could fold it up and hide it in the bottom of my wool basket. I could knit it without sleeves (I didn’t think that would look very good). Or I could try to match the wool with something very similar.

I purchased another ball of wool that I thought was very close but when I got it home it tended more toward white whereas the original wool tended more toward cream. There was a marked difference.

Back to my options: undo it or hide it. But I decided to try something else first. I undid the back and fronts of the garment to half way between the armhole and shoulder shaping. Then I worked two rows in the new colour, followed by two rows in the old colour, and then finished the garment in the new colour. I did this for the sleeves too, only undoing half the number of rows that I’d undone for the fronts and back. I was surprised at how well it blended in. Best of all, it allowed me to finish the garment and present it to The Most Adorable Granddaughter in the World#4 on Saturday.

I’d like to try this pattern again – but with longer sleeves – for The Other Most Adorable Granddaughters in the World but this time I will try and ensure that I have enough wool to finish the project before I cast on that first stitch!





And guess whose eyes she has!