It's Finally Finished

A Special Project

Since it's no secret that I'm a knitter, instead of always procuring my own fiber, yarn sometimes finds it's way to me.  It is less often though, that I inherit an unfinished project to be done.

Such was the case with my most recent Finished Object (FO).  A few years ago as my mother-in-law was in the process of moving, she handed off to me some pretty squares that she and her husband knitted together.  They had intended to make a patchwork blanket for a new grandbaby someday. But life took things in another direction; Grandpa Riendeau passed before the blanket could be finished.  The project was set aside. 

Over the past years I have appreciated even more the scentimental value of those little squares.  What had been knit by Grandpa and Grandma would be treasured by their children and grandchildren.  So I decided to finish the blanket.  The additional squares needed for it's completion were knit by myself, my daughter, and my husband.  That qualifies this as a multi-generational project!

I have often, as I have knitted, felt connected to others who have gone before me that knitted also.  There's something about the movements of knitting that seem to have a memory bank of their own.  As I worked on this blanket I thought of my father-in-law as he might have sat working on it too.  And that would lead to other wonderful memories I had of him.  He would often sit and chat and tell me stories about his life as I knitted.  I spent many precious hours getting to know him better while I knitted along.  He was one of the first, and most ardent, :) admirers of my handwork.  It was so encouraging while I was in those begginer stages of figuring out how to do stuff. 

After I sewed the squares together - which took obnoxiously long and was tedious, I knit my favorite triangle border, the same one that is on our Magic Blankie.  It was just the 'frame' that the blanket needed.  My husband and daughter, being artistic as they are, decided on the arrangment of the blocks, based on how many I had in each color.  My daughter in particular helped me carefully weave in the hundreds of thread ends along the back. 

Finally it's finished!  Almost in time for my nephew's first birthday.  Some things are better late than never.  Happy Birthday, Caleb :)