This was a labor of love and loss. I started this project in August when I was with my brother and sister-in-law visiting our 89 year old Mom in California. I thought it was finally time for me to make a sweater for my brother Chris. I gave him about eight potential patterns and this was the pattern he chose. The four of us had a great time discussing the options, measuring Chris and picking a size. It was a great two weeks together and little did we know that just a few short weeks later our dear sweet Mom would pass away.

Typically I would have no problem finishing this sweater up in a few weeks which would have given me plenty of time to have it ready for Christmas. Of course Christmas came and went and it still wasn’t finished. It seems I was having a bit of a hard time getting back into knitting since my Mom died. My heart just wasn’t in it and it was hard to focus. It didn’t help that I had decided to knit this sweater in the round instead of flat, plus I picked up the sleeves and knit down instead of up. That meant I had to stop and think about everything I was doing not just follow the directions.

Bit by bit in the new year I started to slowly slog my way through. I finished the different challenging sections and finally in the spring I was getting near the finish line. I started to realize that part of the reason it was taking me so long was I didn’t want to let go of this project. When I would visit my Mom knitting was a big part of our time together. Most of my big projects began on her sofa. She would help me strategize color and yarn options, size and guage. I valued her opinion and she was a great listener as I talked through all the details and decisions. My sister and I would started many of our duo sweater projects at Mom’s apartment. We would have our own “weekend knitting retreats” with just us girls! It was a wonderful time of reminiscing, eating yummy goodies an sharing lots of uncontrollable laughter! So many treasured memories.

So now it’s with tears that I have to say goodbye to the last project that my Mom was part of. It makes it more special that this last project was for my brother. I feel that our Mom was knit into each stitch. I hope that as Chris wears his sweater it will be like a hug from Mom!