A Family Heirloom

Knitting can bring people together – even people who don’t get on very well.  My mother had a younger sister who I did not get on with  - but for a few weeks in the late 1970s we sat together and knitted pieces for a patchwork blanket. 

Previously my grandmother had made me a knitted blanket from rectangles of blue, white and grey yarn – leftovers from various projects.  I am ashamed to say – I don’t know what happened to it.  Grandma thought she ought to knit my sister a blanket as well but she had lost her enthusiasm and run out of yarn – she knitted a few blue and grey squares and then stopped.

My aunt was a very good knitter and she took over the project – knitting colourful striped shapes.  I was just learning to knit properly and I knitted a few multi-coloured oblongs.  My mother also contributed some pieces – hers are in stocking stitch – I am not sure why – but they are distinctive in the final blanket.

This week I have not done much knitting but I have stayed in my mother’s house – and while I was there – I looked at and remembered the time I spent with my aunt knitting shapes for this blanket.

I definitely will have to knit another throw from odd balls which mean something to me.  For example I have some yarn left over from a cardigan that my mother knitted for me when I was a child, and I have odd balls left over from various projects that bring back happy memories – and would make a lovely throw.