November 15th: Mom's lap blanket

I started knitting during the summer of 2004. I told my mom and learned that she used to knit. I was really excited about this. So for Christmas that year I bought her a pair of size 8 needles and two hanks of what I think might be bulky weight Blackberry Ridge Kaleidoscope from The Sow's Ear back in WI. Shortly after, she borrowed a pair of size 15 needles from me and cast on as many stitches as the long needle could hold and began knitting back and forth. She'd work on this every once in a while, but mostly it was held in a cupboard where the cats couldn't reach it.

She knit continental. I never really caught onto continental.

In July of 2007, my mom was killed by a drunk driver. As I dealt with her estate in the month that followed, I found the lap blanket she'd started. I took it back to Washington state with me and knit on it some. I finished the first ball of yarn and began knitting from the second. I would only knit a row or two at a time, and then put it away.

It felt like a connection to her.

But now I've finished it. I bound off the edge I finished with a crochet loop to differentiate it from the cast on edge. The finished lap blanket is really more of a shoulder shawl. It's wide, but not that long. It sits nicely around my shoulders. Or over my lap if I'm curled up on the couch.

I have mixed feelings about having finished it. But it's done.