Knitting! I never learned how to knit the way most people do. Maybe Granny Arnold, the neighbor across the street who taught me how to knit, never learned the common way either. But, it worked for her and it has worked for me for over sixty-five years. And now that my vision is quite limited it has felt most comfortable. Switching Albert Einstein’s quote of, “If facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts” to “If my knitting isn’t like others, it still makes the stitches.” I forge ahead with my own unique style of knitting.
Back to my Gloversville project. We bought that lovely king-sized bed. The largest bed we have owned for years is a queen-size bed, but when you sleep with two puppies it helps to have more room. Poor Scott, he is crowded, jostled, and crammed toward the edge of the bed because both puppies insist on snuggling mommy. Some nights he fears for his safety as he clings doggedly to the edge of the bed. So a king-sized bed should provide him with a wider sleep area and more security that he will survive the night without crashing to the floor.
We both like covers. Now don’t get me wrong… Scott and I love to cuddle, but when serious sleeping is required, we both like to tuck. Most sheets, blankets, quilts, and comforters are not wide enough for both of us to tuck. Though we have owned a queen-sized bed we have used a king-sized top sheet, blankets, quilts and comforters for years. Now we are switching to an actual “King-Sized” bed. They do not make sheets, blankets, quilts and comforters in extra large king-size! So, I am knitting us an extra large king-sized blanket.
I used to knit all the time… “used to” being the operative words. While caring for Josh knitting fell by the wayside. So when I decided to knit this blanket I was creating on the fly. Well, guess what? My creative button had become rusty. Though I had an idea how I wanted the blanket to look, implementing it was not as clear as I would have liked. After several false starts I had an Eureka moment and what I needed to do to accomplish this rather large undertaking became clear.
I like for things to look nice but I am not a perfectionist. For us life is constantly changing so if the blanket has some variations that is really just like life… you expect sun and a shower pops up. We just embrace the shower and go on and so it is with the blanket. If one row was supposed to be knit but ended up purl? So be it…
At this point I have completed one width sans the border. Had the second width almost completed when somehow (let’s blame it on the menehune mischief since we are still in Hawai’i) about six rows on half of the width just unraveled. In all my years of knitting that has never happened, but I just wound all the yarn into a big ball and started all over again. At the moment I am almost halfway through the second row for a second time… and, I actually like it better than the first time. Hopefully, by fall chilly weather all the rows will be completed and we both will be able to tuck in to our heart’s content…
