Finishing

Unfinished and unfinishable sweater 

My friend Karen had only one fault.  She had a terrible time finishing things.  By "things" I mean knitting projects.  Now that she's passed, several of us have sorted through bags of unfinished sweaters, discussed the possible outcomes for each, and stepped up to bring a conclusion and destination to their process.

Rip it out became ribbit out

I took the giant, patchwork, sweater body.  Since there was no extra yarn and no pattern, we figured the knitting was done. Pillows sprang to mind. We'd met an old friend of Karen's from her graduate school days, Bob, at her memorial gathering.  He would, no doubt, cherish work from her hands.  And her two nephews would have the other two pillows.

Pillow for Bob: front side

Sorting, unraveling, blocking and stitching eventually resulted in a 22 x 15" pillow from the back of the sweater.  While my hands were occupied with these Things I get to do today, my mind went about solving a word puzzle I had mentally tucked away on Monday while we friends sorted and talked of memories and of yarn and of knitting.  Asta had said she would "frog" a piece she had knit.

"Frog?" I questioned.

Finished at last: opposite side

"Yes, take it out," she replied.  My mind stopped and did not see the connection.  But today as I released the band from the body of the sweater, I got it. "Rip it"out became "ribbit" out.   And every person from age three on up knows that "ribbit" is what frogs say.  It's finished!