My grandma is turning 100 on December 24, 2014. It occurred to me a few months ago that I should buy her a present… but honestly, what do you buy a 100 year-old woman? She pretty much has everything. So, I thought “wouldn’t it be nice if I knitted her something?” Then I was like, “Boo! I don’t have time to finish anything by then!” So I abandoned the idea.
Then, about three weeks ago, I decided that it was very important that I knit her something and the only think I could think of that she would use is a shawl, so it had to be a shawl. I consulted my stash and had a sufficient amount of lace-weight yarn to make a shawl, so I hit up Ravelry to look for a lace-weight shawl pattern that would knit up fast (I filtered the search by needle size… went as big as I could go). I found what seemed like a suitable shawl pattern and got started on it right away, but after working on it all weekend I decided (a) I didn’t really like it because it was too airy and wouldn’t do anything to keep grandma warm, and (b) I was never going to finish in time with lace-weight yarn, even on size 10 needles. Back to the drawing board.
With a little over a month to knit this, I decided bulky weight yarn was the way to go. I hit up Ravelry looking for a pattern that was pretty, but looked like I could knit it quickly (no plain stockinette/garter stitch shawls, but also no super elaborate lace or cables). I decided to go with the Sugar Maple Shawl by Suzanne Stewart of Tree Knitter Designs. Then I ordered some bulky weight yarn online and *gasp* even paid for two-day shipping and got started right away. So far, it’s going well. I have this much done so far:
It’s a little thin, but it will have a ruffle border knit on one side which will make it wider. In a perfect world, I would have added one more pattern repeat, but I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn and it would take significantly longer to knit with an extra repeat, so this is going to have to do. It will probably block out much wider as well, hopefully.
Here is a close-up shot of the lace pattern and a more accurate representation of the color of the yarn:
I’m going to have to book it, but I think I’ll finish in time. Wish me luck!!
Your shawl is looking beautiful, I'm sure your grandma will love and appreciate it. Wow, 100 yrs old, what an amazing woman. I worked in an assisted living facility for a few years and absolutely love being around our aging community, we can learn so much from our elders. Cherish her every breath and remember every word she says. And Happy Birthday wishes to her.
She Knits in Pearls
She is definitely a fabulous lady! I never take that for granted!!