Three stories in pictures
This post has been marinating for quite a while.
In a way it is a follow-up, Part II of my last post which was inspired by Cat Bordhi who since has left this earthly realm, leaving us with much to remember her by. In my last post I mused about letting go of expectations and living with what is.
Memories are a special gift if they are of good times and loved ones and holding on to those memories can often see us through the darkest days. They can be triggered in a moment’s notice. They can be triggered by a scent, a taste, a sound, an image and by touch. As a knitter we can probably relate most to touch, the tactile memory.
In order to not make this post too long, I am telling about three heirloom knits mostly in pictures, but as always you can find more notes on the projects ( except the last one) on my ravelry page; links are provided.
The wedding blanket/ the new piece with a twist from the past
Many years ago my Mother in law gifted me with two huge balls of yarn. They took up almost half of the space in my husband’s suitcase and I stored the yarn away for a special occasion.
Mum passed away since, but not before meeting my son’s girlfriend whom he married this summer.
After they announced their engagement, I thought how nice it would be to knit up a wedding blanket for them. I had to procrastinate on the project when I broke my wrist, but was able to finish in just under one year using Mum’s yarn for the three panels in the middle of the blanket and ordering more of the same yarn from England.More notes on this on ravelry: Gift of Love Wedding Blanket.
The heirloom layette set/ finishing a set across time and a generation later
When I received this email , I was right on-board with the project.
So special to finish the set ♥️
“ I was wondering if I could hire you to knit a baby bonnet for me.
My mom started a set for my niece before she was born, unfortunately my mom passed away 2 months before she was born and the bonnet was not made. We did not find it until after my dad also passed when we cleaned out the house. Well now 35 years later, my niece is having a baby and I thought it would be a lovely gift to give her the complete set.”
The Baby Blanket/ repair
When my eldest son and his wife moved into their new home, they came across a baby blanket my mother in law had knitted some 35 years ago when I was pregnant with him.
It had holes ( luckily not from moths) and some stains.
It looked like the yarn itself had become frail and large areas of stitches had dropped.
First I did some reversed engineering and wrote down the pattern as I read the stitches in a complete area, then I found some yarn which best matched the original yarn ( not all whites are the same!). Then I finally fixed holes and other weak areas in the knitting.
After giving it a good wash ( using Mrs Stewart’s liquid bluing) , it came out as good as new.
