My mother started our “big knitting” craze by making a couple of lap blankets for Christmas – one for her sister and the other for herself. They aren’t too big – just enough to fit over her legs. We decided to put flannel on the back, making it nice and warm. Mom uses it all the time and it’s been great to see her use the things she has made. It also provided a nice break from the smaller cat mats and children’s hats we had been knitting.
I planned to make a throw – about 40-inches wide – that would be a cozy for Mom and could lay on her bed as an extra blanket. The throw ended up being huge – the full length of the bed. I found some yarn that I liked and that came in a variety of colors, so it became quite a project. The yarn was really interesting and contained strands of different sizes, shapes and colors – in other words, I could just to a basic “knit all rows” and let the yarn do the work of creating a pattern. I’m not sure the picture does it justice, but it’s a very warm and cozy blanket and will be great to use when the weather turns cooler … in about 6 months! Anyway, it washed nicely and is very soft – Oscar the cat likes it too.
I also decided to knit a baby blanket for a very new neighbor. Rather than the traditional blue for a boy, I used purple, yellow, jade and white cotton yarn to make a nice light blanket. It’s cute and washes up well – important for a baby anything! I had never used cotton yarn like this before and it took a long time because both the yarn and the needles were on the small side. I love how light-weight yet dense it is!
The last thing I’m making is a “summer poncho” for my mother. This one also uses cotton yarn and is very easy. Knit two rectangles and sew them together at the shoulders, leaving a large neck hole. Mom is frequently a little chilly but sometimes it’s too warm for a sweater, so hopefully this will work well. It’s a work in progress at this point, so fingers crossed that I finish it by Mother’s Day. She has seen it, but always forgets what it is! This is called finding the silver lining with regard to memory loss.
All of these have a few things in common: they are very easy patterns, they came out better than I anticipated (I not the most optimistic about my knitting projects) and … I actually finished them! In the past, I would give up on projects, even if I had put in a lot of time on them. Now, I seem to be able to see them through to the end. I think this is because of a few things. First, I watch more TV/movies in the evening with my mother – while the TV isn’t a great thing, it’s nice to spend time with Mom and knitting keeps me occupied. Second, I am doing simpler patterns that move along easier and faster – though I like some of the more complex patterns, the reality is that they become “work” and I lose interest. Third, I am more interested in getting things done … accomplishing something that I can point to and say “I did that”.
Whatever the reason(s), I’m very happy that I have crossed the Rubicon to become a knitter who actually finishes stuff. There is no going back now!
my mother, my cat and me 