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.