My year of inherited wips
Can I finish my grandma's unfinished projects in 2025?
So in September my grandma made the big trek across the state of Washington to see me get married. It was a gorgeous day filled with everyone I love and hold dear.
She brought many things I told her she didn't have to – like the China and silver set, oodles of family photos and three bags of WIPS. Little did I know, it would kick off a much larger haul a few months later.
The wips were interesting because they contain projects both she had started and her grandmother had started. I had told her I would be happy to take a look and see if I could finish them for her months before and she had taken the time to pack a few up for me to take a look at.
I pulled them out a few days after the wedding and couldn't really tell what some were supposed to be so I picked one I was sure of to finish in 2024.
I would finish a very pretty peony color vest before Tom and I went to visit for Thanksgiving. I ended up coming home with it because it fit me wonderfully.
My big project for the year is to see how many of these WIPS I can finish.
My first project of the year is what I'm dubbing the “country blue” vest. This one was about half finished. Grandma had gotten the back 2” away from finished so I finished that one and then cast on the front.
She was using a pattern from a leaflet for the numbers and then she wanted a different stitch on the front. So when I cast on the front I just switched out the stitch pattern. There was no shaping on this vest so it made it very easy to just plug it in.
The yarn was Red Heart Super Saver in the color country blue. She had about eight skeins in the bag but I only used about three. She had made the largest size which finishes with a roughly 52” bust.
I had nearly two weeks off at the end of December so I used that to get a head start on the vest. It took about three or four days of intense knitting to finish it. I then seamed it in an evening before starting on the armhole finishing.
Getting through one of these projects a month is my big goal for 2025. There might not be enough projects to complete one each month so when I run out of WIPS I plan to use some of the extra yarn.
The country blue vest is going to be mailed back to my grandma for her birthday in February.
The vlog of finishing that vest
My next one will be what we suspect is a table runner started by my great-grandma. I say suspect because there isn't a pattern and it's not exactly obvious to me.
There is some placemats, a vest or two and a question of if we can turn a baby hat pattern into a lampshade.
It’s been interesting to dive into their unfinished projects and try to work out where they were and what they were making. It feels connective in a way, I am related to these women, I know my grandma well and now I am connected through a very tangible thing we made. It’s sad because I know part of her wanting to give them to me because she can’t finish them and joyful because now she will have a finished garment like she’s always wanted.
Happy 2025 and to many days of knitting.
Kali Nelson is excited to see what she can turn the oodles of grocery bags of yarn into over the course of this year.
