Blanket delivered

One more parting snapshot of the Welcome Blanket for good measure (thanks to A for the photo help!).

welcome blanket FO4.jpg

I delivered it to the Smart Museum today, in a brown paper bag like someone’s huge knitted lunch. Today was a scorcher in Chicago – the kind of thick, 33 celsius day that sees your fellow passengers wiping beads of sweat off of their brows with a soppy hanky on the subway. I felt more than a little cognitive dissonance as I carried around the blanket version of a rainbow woolly mammoth on this muggy, muggy day, but I was happy to see this project through to its end. I hope that the blanket will give a little bit of joy to whomever receives it.

This project, and the in-progress Knit Together organized by Melissa at knittingthestash, is opening my eyes to the beauty of the communally-made blanket. As the Knit Together and the Welcome Blanket makers are showing, collaboratively-made blankets are meaningful symbols of solidarity, togetherness, and community. They enact the principle of making something bigger out of individual, unique contributions. I love how knitting lends itself so readily to this idea, and am so glad to have been a part of both of these labours of love.

To making blankets together! And to the spirit of welcome!

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19 thoughts on “Blanket delivered”

  1. I love this shot of you & your blanket, and am more than a little jealous that you got to hand-deliver your blanket; I miss Chicago, even if it was a gross hot day. The things you describe liking about group blanket projects are also what attract me to them. I’ve worked on 3 before, running & designing them too, for expecting friends in my old knitting group. They’re a lot of fun and are kind of like one big group hug, but with yarn.

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    1. Thank you, Mandy. Like one big group hug, but with yarn – I love that description of group knitting! That’s very accurate, and how cool that you’ve designed group-knit blankets in the past. That sounds like a very fun knitting experience; I really do enjoy the company of knitters! Again, it’s so beautiful to see your blanket FO. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for our blankets over the next few months!!

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    1. Thank you, Melissa. You, too?! Today was another inexplicably sweltering day up here. I’m not complaining (I’ll take more of summer if we can get it!), but the switch was dramatic. Hope you are keeping cool, and that fall semester is off to a good start!

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  4. Hear hear! Knitting is great… Shared knitting that brings people together is even better. And your tale of the blanket’s journey through the bizarre late September heat made me smile! That’s such a cool photo too! Enjoy your weekend, Shirley 😀

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    1. Thank you, Helen. 🙂 Just when I was getting my fall/winter layers out of the back of the closet… 😉 I kind of live for ‘jacket weather,’ though it’s a bit of a rarity here in Chicago, with its tendency toward climate extremes (I’ll take more sun rays, though!). 😀 Likewise – enjoy your weekend!

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