So I decided I wanted to knit a blanket for my friend Deacon John; who had his stem cell transplant on Friday and will be in the hospital for the next few weeks, most of that time in isolation while his stem cells to their job and get to work doing whatever it is they do to put him in remission. I got this really great soft undyed cotton yarn from my favorite yarn shop and started what I thought was a really cool pattern only I couldn't keep it straight in my head and it looked really strange when I got through the first set of pattern stitches, so I frogged the whole thing out (you know ribbet ribbet) and started over.
Then I chose a new pattern and began again and this time I got really far. I got to the end of an entire skein of yarn but somehow it looked really lopsided, so I looked at the pattern more carefully and sure enough I was leaving out one really important stitch at the end of every odd numbered row. so I had to frog the entire piece again.
Attempt number three was going smoothly, or so I thought, until I got to the point where I needed to look at the pattern to see how to turn the edge for the side. It was then that I realized that instead of doing one row of knit and one row of purl, which was what I was doing , I should have been doing two of each, which would have made a pattern of raised ridges, and looked so much better than the stockinette pattern that I was getting. so here I go again frogging out all the stitches to begin for the fourth time!!!
But, now that I have about fifty rows done in the correct pattern, I am glad that I did take the time to do it right, it looks so much better, and I know that it will make a much better blanket. Each stitch has been prayed over so many times that the blanket has to be infused with prayers and love. I just hope I can finish it before I have to leave for Chicago on Thursday to visit with John and his wife. Oh well, if not I will work on it while I am there. This isn't a race, it is a gift, and the gift should be done right, not done quickly.
Pax
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What a precious gift and person you are! You do know about our "David" blanket, don't you? Some sweet soul at St. John's crocheted it and we never found who she was...all we know is she did it out of pure love and it reminds me of the "coat of many colors." It is "our family cuddle up sick blanket or just cuddle up warm up blanket," and we know that David is with us in a special way whenever we use it because it is like a relic of some sort since he is a saint! ;) Sooo, your friend should treasure all of this special special work and keep it in his family for years... and you can tell him I told you to tell him so! :) Love you!
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