The skirt, the blanket, and the circle of life

The blanket is done, and in the hands of Nancy, who is getting on a plane tomorrow at noon. Silly me, I didn't take a picture before I gave it to her, but she took some, and she will send me one avec bébé when she gets back to where the bébé is.

The story begins... many years ago, when Nancy moved to New Zealand. Fast forward to a month or so ago, when her mother, here in Toronto, suddenly passed away. Nancy comes back from NZ and stays with my friends, her brother John and his wife Sally. (As opposed to my brother John and his wife Sally, not to mention my sister-in-law Nancy...) While she is here, she learns that her grandson is born in NZ and attempts to knit a blanket for him -- she in fact knit herself a lovely wool shawl with Manos, or something equally soft and beautifully dyed, and some curly green-gold bouclé stripes and fringe! It was just not quite right for a baby blanket, but it's a fine wrap for Grandma!

So, one day the knitters get together and Sally brings Nancy. Of course, when one entertains knitters, one has to do a bit of showing off, so I showed them the Felted Tweed Botticelli and my half-finished blanket and my cuff of a sock, and Nancy oohed and aahed over the blanket!

It was one of those first hot days (Hmph, not had many since then, either...) and we were sitting on the back deck, knitting and drinking sangria. Nancy had on a pair of trousers with a skirt on over top, and it was getting warm, so she stood up to take the skirt off, and I said, "That's a nice skirt," so she gave it to me! Just like that, said she had too much stuff to take home and I should have it. And it fit!

 So, a blanket for her grandbaby seemed a fitting return, and being a nutball obsessive, I hemmed and hawed a bit and then just figured out what to do, lickety split, and knit that damn 12 feet of edging and that slightly off-gauge square and everything, and got 'er done.

And! When I went around to give it to her just now, Sally was trying to encourage her to pack and she had "stuff" all over the front hall of the house, and made me try on her mother's wool winter coat, which fit like a dream and which I ended up bringing home with me! Because she couldn't fit everything in her bags, you know.

Phew! Now I shall attempt to clean up the house, because things have got a bit wild around here!