I'm done! This blanket has a story behind the giving and a story behind the knitting. I'll start with the knitting.
I was going to do the whole blanket in this star stitch pattern. You knit the right side and then on the reverse side do a series of purling three together but leave on the left needle, wrap the yarn around the right and then purl the same three together again. That makes the star. It's a pretty pattern, but it makes my hands cramp. I know in my head that a significant percentage of the population over the age of 40 has arthritis, but I'm not ready to accept it in my own hands. After I got four inches along in two days, I decided to make the star pattern a border. Sadly, that left a lot of boring stockinette stitch - I should have chose something else for the middle.
So, the giving story. I have a friend on the block who just had her sixth child. I feel the sixth deserves a hand-knitted something, especially when you know the whole story. This couple has two biological children, a boy and a girl, in their mid to late teens. They tried to have a third, wanting a big family, but were unsuccessful. Their third child, a boy, was adopted shortly after birth through a regular, domestic adoption. He is now 9. They decided to foster children, their hearts being capable of so much more.
They took in countless babies and toddlers, wanting to foster with the intent to adopt. They returned several children back to parents or family members. It was heartbreaking to witness. Then they fostered from early toddlerhood and adopted their fourth child, also a boy. He is now four. They thought they were done. A year later, they agreed to take in an infant until the grandmother could be qualified to take the child. After much uncertainty, the grandmother was unable to take the child and this wonderful couple kept him, adopting him this fall at nearly the age of two. Now their family was complete and happy.
Then, in December they got a call that the birth mother had given birth again and the family felt that one more child would be perfect. Despite spending a month in the hospital, being sick with drug exposure, this baby girl is the most perfect, most beautiful baby I have seen since my own were born. She is very lucky to have found this family, my friends are very lucky indeed to have her. They have every intention of adopting her as well, providing her with love and attention, giving her a life of her own and the possibility to reach her full potential.
I can't believe I have the good fortune to know people such as these, to learn from them and maybe capture a bit of their goodness.
I was going to do the whole blanket in this star stitch pattern. You knit the right side and then on the reverse side do a series of purling three together but leave on the left needle, wrap the yarn around the right and then purl the same three together again. That makes the star. It's a pretty pattern, but it makes my hands cramp. I know in my head that a significant percentage of the population over the age of 40 has arthritis, but I'm not ready to accept it in my own hands. After I got four inches along in two days, I decided to make the star pattern a border. Sadly, that left a lot of boring stockinette stitch - I should have chose something else for the middle.
So, the giving story. I have a friend on the block who just had her sixth child. I feel the sixth deserves a hand-knitted something, especially when you know the whole story. This couple has two biological children, a boy and a girl, in their mid to late teens. They tried to have a third, wanting a big family, but were unsuccessful. Their third child, a boy, was adopted shortly after birth through a regular, domestic adoption. He is now 9. They decided to foster children, their hearts being capable of so much more.
They took in countless babies and toddlers, wanting to foster with the intent to adopt. They returned several children back to parents or family members. It was heartbreaking to witness. Then they fostered from early toddlerhood and adopted their fourth child, also a boy. He is now four. They thought they were done. A year later, they agreed to take in an infant until the grandmother could be qualified to take the child. After much uncertainty, the grandmother was unable to take the child and this wonderful couple kept him, adopting him this fall at nearly the age of two. Now their family was complete and happy.
Then, in December they got a call that the birth mother had given birth again and the family felt that one more child would be perfect. Despite spending a month in the hospital, being sick with drug exposure, this baby girl is the most perfect, most beautiful baby I have seen since my own were born. She is very lucky to have found this family, my friends are very lucky indeed to have her. They have every intention of adopting her as well, providing her with love and attention, giving her a life of her own and the possibility to reach her full potential.
I can't believe I have the good fortune to know people such as these, to learn from them and maybe capture a bit of their goodness.
2 comments:
Wow, Elizabeth...that is an amazing family - how blessed you are to know them. The blanket is beautiful - I've never seen that star stitch - it's lovley! -S
Some can even fight back. The majority of them probably just cower in fear, because that's how they've been trained on best weighted blankets.
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