Mitered Garden is the culmination of a long and wonderful journey, originally inspired by a gentleman whose wife passed away before she could finish the afghan she was knitting for him. The woman’s daughter brought the unfinished work to me and asked if I might be able to complete it as a gift from her to her mother’s husband. I have a hard and fast rule that I never take on contract knitting, but this story brought me to tears and I couldn’t resist the request. I was not overly familiar with mitered squares and had very little interest in knitting them, but once I got going I found I rather enjoyed them and, before I knew it, the blanket was done. Some weeks later, I received the kindest note from the gentleman, thanking me for my small contribution to his late wife’s gift to him - he said it was like having a piece of her that he could keep with him always.

That beautiful experience still with me, I dove into my stash and located several delicious colors of Silk Garden and began to play… That was a few years ago now - naturally, I got sidetracked by I don’t even know how many cases of Startitis. But quite recently, as I began the process of closing my beloved yarn shop, and in search of some comfort knitting, I pulled out this afghan and set to work.

Mitered Garden, so named for the mitered square construction and Silk Garden (one of my top three, all time favorite yarns…ever), is a wonderfully easy knit, once you get the hang of the miters. Gauge is not a top priority, but it is important to make a swatch (or test square) to ensure that you are happy with the feel of the fabric and that the miters are neat and clean.

Please be creative with color choices - I used #269 as the main color because I had received 10 skeins as a gift from one of my wonderful customers and wanted to use them for something special. But, Silk Garden comes in so many stunning colors, that any combination is sure to be breathtaking!! In addition, due to the construction method, it is not absolutely necessary to purchase all the yarn prior to casting on. Knitters can make several visits to their LYS over the course of this project.

I hope you enjoy knitting this blanket as much as I did, and that once finished it will bring you as much joy as finishing another knitter’s final gift to her husband did to me.