Knitting an Afghan

I grew up watching my mom knit. I thought it was so cool to sit beside her on the couch while she worked on whatever her current project was. Sometimes it was a sweater/cap/bootie set for a new baby. At other times, it was an afghan of some type. When I was in high school, she made my friends and me scarves in our school colors of purple and gold. She had the neatest rhythm in her knitting - Mom is a "thrower" so the whole couch jumped a little when she looped the yarn around her needles.

One of the projects I especially remember was a sampler afghan she made for my grandmother. It consists of 10o blocks. Each of 50 patterns was done in a varigated yarn and also in either of 2 solid colors. Then, each square had to be put together according to a chart to make the finished project. I can still see the stacks of knitted squares, little squares of paper with the number written on them, attached by a safety pin. When all the squares were done, she laid them out on her bed to begin putting them together.

A few years ago, my grandmother moved into an assisted living facility and we had to clean out years of accumulated memories from her house. While cleaning out the attic, we found that afghan. Needless to say, it was in less than great condition. Who knows what it had been home to during its stay in the attic. Regardless of its condition, I wanted that afghan! Thinking about the time of its creation brought back the warm, safe, happy feelings of my childhood days. I took it home, washed it and, in spite of a couple of moth holes, it came out pretty good!

One day a few months ago, after pouring over knitting books looking for projects that a non-talented knitter might be able to complete, I asked Mom about that afghan pattern. She found it in a notebook that she had long ago hand-copied patterns in. There were even some notations in my own childish handwriting in the margins!

We talked about it and decided to make another one together. So, as part of my "Rewards for Good Behavior" program to encourage me to do the things I need to do, we're going to get together when possible and knit the more complicated squares together. I'll knit the varigated squares while Mom knits the solid ones. I've finished simpler squares 1 and 3 and I'm working on square 5 now.

There's knitting going on in Shari's World these days!