Labour of Love

Yes. That is M's blanket. And yes, it is FINISHED.

I can't even begin to describe how pleased I am to have this done. Two years in the making, many hours of knitting, much procrastination. A gift that was meant for her first Christmas, then postponed for her first birthday - I did in fact finish it off in time for her 2nd birthday earlier this week. A birthday that unfortunately was spent sick with the flu, the blanket came in very handy this week as we've spent many many hours cuddled up on the couch.



I ended up altering my original "plan" to make the blanket a bit bigger and wider. It's pictured on a queen bed so should be a good size for on top of a single bed with a body under it. The squares are 20cm x 20cm but I knit a larger 40cm panel for the middle and used intarsia to make a traditional Maori design bordering her name and DOB (hence the blanking out). It seems almost surreal looking at her date of birth with the 07 on the end. I'm having a hard time believing my baby is TWO!!



I knit the black squares and a couple of the coloured ones. All the rest were donated by a special group of women I feel very privileged to have been a part of. And while I don't 'see' them as much anymore I consider myself very lucky to call each of them my friend. The blanket will comfort and warm, every square reminding me of a time when those friends saved me from the loneliness of adjusting to a new place far away. Without their daily companionship and support my life would have been very sad and empty. I miss you all x



Enough with the mushy and sentimental?

Most of the squares are garter or moss , a few are stocking with a garter border. A lot of the black squares I knit as mitred squares because I liked the motivation of an ever decreasing number of stitches. I also used a couple of dishcloth patterns just to try something a bit different. I have to say that endless 20cm squares are not something I will be knitting again in a hurry. Likewise the "fun" part of picking up stitches for the border (about 8 rows garter with little mitered squares at the corners - thank you RoseRed for your help with that) is something I won't be rushing to do again anytime soon. That being said this was a BIG project with a BIG timeframe and even with all the stalling along the way I am really thrilled with the outcome. It's not perfect but it was knit with lots of love and hopefully M will treasure it as much as I treasure her. I have to admit to secretly hoping she'll be able to wrap up her own babies with it one day.

Oops back to the mushy and sentimental, probably a good place for me to sign off!