The Everlasting Shawl

 In my last post, I hinted at a very special project that I was undertaking for my sister Nancy's husband. This post is to share the story.

Nancy's last knitting project was a beautiful shawl that had lots of "backing up" and "swear words" in equal measure. We talked about it and she vented that in our older age, our concentration was lacking somewhat. (I did a post about that subject earlier.)

But she persevered, even taking it with her into the hospital. In the early days there, she would knit a few rows now and again, but it remained as it was. Sitting nearby on her needles, with the ball of yarn in progress.

When I received the rest of the knitting stuff, Bill (my brother-in-law) was holding a zip lock bag with the in-progress shawl. He told me ahead of the committal service that he wasn't prepared to give this one to me.

After the service, I had a brilliant idea and shared it with him. I proposed doing a "shadow box" with her shawl stitches on the needles, stitch markers visible (in Nancy's case a piece of yarn and two safety pins) and the ball of yarn nestled in the knit part. I also said if we put the pattern in the background, we would be able to see her row counting and other chicken scratchings. 

I took it to Michaels, thinking the knowledge of framing and other crafts was the perfect destination. And I was correct!! The staff were excited about the concept. We laid it out on the work table and picked mat colours. I got an screen preview of what it would look like.

Here is the finished project:

This is a wide shot to show the full size of the shadow box. It's about 20 x 24, which nicely hugs the project.

This is a close shot that shows all the markings on the pattern. You can also see her random stitch markers. 

I think it truly does look like she just set it down, ready to pick it up again at any time. 

Bill agrees and was thrilled when he came to pick it up.

I did receive the rest of the unused skeins and may decide to knit the same pattern, mixing in another yarn if needed, since this colourway is discontinued.

The Everlasting Shawl is a much better name than what we were calling it before - the Swearing Shawl.

The actual pattern name is "Temperance Shawl" which you can find here on Ravelry.

Knit on Nancy. Knit on.

My Fibre Sister's Bequest

My sister Nancy and I shared a love of all things fibre. She loved knitting, as much as I do. We always shared patterns that we loved - and we mostly loved the same ones. We even knit for one another, though not always intentionally.

Although we looked very much alike, I am probably 5 inches taller. She was incredibly petite - not me! But she was a looser gauge knitter and even her XXS projects were often handed "up" to me because they were too large.

About a year ago (maybe two in Covid time), she knit a "Relax" sweater in a creamy white, but was unhappy with the colour. She originally asked me to dye it for her, but I balked at that, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good sweater with a bad dye job. Instead, I knit her the same sweater back in a beautiful blue Peerie wool, and kept the creamy one for myself. So we each had a Relax sweater the other had knit. 

This past week, Nancy's committal service took place in Oakville. Her final resting place is just perfect. And her headstone is etched with one of her watercolour paintings of a lighthouse. A tree was blooming - looked like it had just bloomed - and I am pretty sure she ordered that. 

Nancy's husband and daughter bequeathed me all of her knitting and hooking things - and it took me three days to sort through it all. She had several shawls on the go, and lots of yarn that didn't seem to have a designated pattern. I will finish one cowl and one shawl that have the yarn and pattern together.

I have decided to use the yarn that is dk, worsted and thicker to make Nancy's grandson Grayson a "NANA BLANKET". I will do a simple mosaic pattern and combine yarns to get gauge and keep knitting. I have done a few baby blankets this way and all colours seem to work well together. Here is a picture of the bin full of the yarn that will go into the blanket. There were even a couple of unfinished projects that she had started to "frog", so I continued, and they will also be part of the blanket. When I do my next sorting, I will make sure there are enough neutrals to offset her love of pinks and purples, so Grayson can love this blanket for all time.

I introduced Nancy to rug hooking - even convinced her to come to Trent Rug School many years ago. Here we are hooking together in 2006 in Anne Boissinot's class. Yikes - that was a long time ago. She wasn't as keen on hooking as knitting, but she has a few finished pieces in her home that her husband loves to brag about. 

In the trunk full of things I received, there were also a few nearly-finished hooking things, that I will finish and give back to her family. One is a Christmas stocking that is fully hooked, just not finished. And the other is a sweet Jeannie Field cat pattern that I will turn into a cushion. 

There is also enough cut wool that I can create some kind of primitive rug that I will either keep for myself or give to her daughter.

It was very bitter sweet going through all these things. Most of the knitting patterns have her handwriting on them, so I will keep them all. And I will make something wonderful for myself out of the finer sock weight yarns that were in her stash.

I will hook with her hook and knit with her needles, so she will be with me when I am in the studio.

There is one other project that I have put in motion for her husband as a keepsake, but I will save that for another post, since I want to share images when it is done.

In a totally non-fibre related connection, we both loved walking. And we both loved Asics walking shoes. Her husband gave her a new pair every Christmas, so I  inherited 5 pairs - every colour you can imagine. I am not sure why we had the same size feet. (She suffered from lymphedema in her legs, so I think her feet were swollen to a larger size as well, though she never complained about that.) So now, she will be with me on every walk for years to come.