I've not posted a great deal in recent months, partly because I've been working on several labours of love, two of which were baby blankets.
There is something very special about baby blankets. Not just because they are soft and squishy and a joy to knit and touch, but also because so much love goes into every stitch. And I can assure you that these two babies will be very much enveloped in love when wrapped in these blankets.
But there the similarity ends.
One blanket is ready to be packaged up and sent to Son#5 and DIL#5 to wrap around our most precious granddaughter when she arrives. I don't know when we will get to see and hold this latest addition to our family (she's not due for a while yet and perhaps circumstances may change before her arrival) but I hope that this blanket will be a tangible expression of our love that she will be able to feel reaching out to her from across the ocean.
This blanket carries on a tradition that my mother began (at least I think it started with her, but knowing the expertise with handicrafts that my grandmother and great-grandmother possessed, the tradition may have begun even earlier). When I was expecting my eldest child, my mother knitted me a baby shawl. Cream. Lacy. Soft. And very impractical (particularly for breastfed babies that pooped everywhere). I used it for each one of my babies (generally for going to church). I treasured it and have it still.
My mother also knitted my sister a shawl. Different pattern. But cream. Lacy. Soft. And likely, just as impractical.
For quite a while she wasn't called on to do any more baby shawls. That is, until my sons married. As did some of my sister's children. As so often happens, babies came along. And Mum continued to knit shawls for the firstborn in each new family unit.
Until now.
My mother has suffered with rheumatoid arthritis for over thirty years. She has often had to limit how much knitting she has been able to do. Where once she could complete several items in a winter, more recently she has had to make a decision to just do one. If that.
Her hands are no longer up to knitting. Even something as light and airy as a baby shawl.
I appreciate the years she has given to this craft and the hours and love she has poured into handknitted items. I know this would not have been an easy decision for her to make and that she feels regretful that she is no longer able to carry on this tradition.
But I have two sons and two nephews whose wives will never receive a hand-knitted baby shawl from my mother. I decided that it was time I tried my hand at a baby shawl and thus ensure the tradition she began lives on.
Which is why I now have a baby blanket all finished and ready to send overseas. Since that could take weeks or even months before it arrives, I'll share a small peek preview now but the rest will have to wait for a later post.
And now for the second blanket.
This has a different story. A group knit. Not my idea and had I been asked to coordinate it, I would have refused. I already had a good idea how this story would end and I was not far wrong.
Someone thought it would be wonderful to ask a number of people to knit or crochet a square or three to be made into a blanket for a colleague who is expecting.
It's a lovely idea. It really is. And some people were so thrilled to be involved that they learnt to knit especially so they could contribute. That is dedication. And love.
But with so many different tensions/gauges, different concepts of what a 10cm x 10cm (4" x 4") square should look like (one was almost twice that size!), different stitch patterns, and some edges stitches that really splayed out, putting it all together was a mission.
A mission that I ended up volunteering to do, against my better judgement. Even though all the squares had been blocked so that they roughly resembled the same size, because of the variances mentioned above, joining them together was a challenge. I had originally thought to use a slip crochet join but it looked hideous as some more loosely worked squares pulled away from the seam making it look as if they had formed holes, and some larger squares pushed the seam out of alignment. In the end I settled on mattress stitch - after experimenting with several other joining methods first.
Ten hours later, the blocks were all joined. I can't say I'm thrilled with the result, but when I look at the blanket, the love is evident. And I suspect the recipient will feel the love written there in every block.
A separately knitted border still has to be completed and attached (and I am desperately hoping that I won't be asked to do that) which will enlarge it and hopefully finish it off.
I've definitely learnt from this whole experience. Obviously the first lesson is to never put my hand up for something like this ever again. The second is that when involving others, it's imperative to set some clear guidelines and expectations. Even though it's not as much fun when you can't choose your own stitch patterns, it's probably easier to put a blanket together if the squares are all the same. I would recommend knitting blocks on the diagonal (easier to measure the length of a side and you don't need to know how many stitches you need to cast on to get a certain measurement - something that obviously threw a number of people off), or at least, suggesting that every block have a few garter stitches each side or selvedge stitches. And definitely have a sewing bee to enlist as many hands as possible to sew the blocks together.
I'm still suffering from RSI from this latest marathon which is going to slow me down on some of the other labours of love I want to complete. But when I think of my mother I am reminded that my pain will subside in a few days and I'll be able to pick up my needles again, but for her, she may never be able to enjoy this pastime that she was once so skilled at and employed to wrap those she loved in beautifully crafted stitches.
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| The Most Adorable Granddaughter#2 in a jumper/sweater that my mother knitted for me when I was a teenager. She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands. Proverbs 31:13, NKJV. |
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