Covered in Love

In my stash of family things, I have several afghans.  My favorite one is cream-colored, a knitted one, with patterns much like and Irish knit sweater. There are cables and lacy shells and a lattice pattern. This afghan covers me nicely, being more than five feet long. It is my favorite because of it's color and size and pattern, but mostly because it was made for me years ago by my Mother.

In the closet upstairs, there is a colorful, wool, crocheted Granny Square afghan, which looks much like this one in the picture above. My mother says that it was made by her mother, but it was my aunt who had it in her home for as long as I could remember, and it was she who gave it to me.  It's very warm and it's bright yarns are cheerful on a dull,gray, wintery day.  When I was pregnant with my fourth baby, I made a lighter weight version of this pattern... multi-colored squares of acrylic, sports weight yarn, each square bordered in black.

There's another heavy coverlet that is in my possession. It, too, is handiwork partly my grandmother's.
It was probably one of her last works, and it is nothing special about it, other than the most important... that she'd knitted some of the plain squares.  By the time she'd knitted these pieces, she couldn't see well enough anymore to crochet patterns, and this gave her something to do as she sat during the afternoon.  I believe that my aunt knitted the other squares, and sewed them together to finish the blanket.  It's not fancy, no, but it is warm, and large and cozy.

There's a zig-zag pattern of scrap yarns crocheted together to make a throw. My daughter made that one and her daughter, my first grandchild, made a fleece throw for me.  The collection of covers is completed by several handmade quilts made by great grandmothers on both sides, by my mother, and by myself.  These heirlooms will one day be handed down to my children. I hope they will treasure them the way I do.

I can definitely say that we are covered in love.