Of Grandparents and Squares

Here are my squares for the Grandmother Purl project. I started knitting with the idea I would do 2. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to knit one for each of my grandparents. So that's what I did. Sadly, I was never able to knit for 3 of my 4 grandparents, but I'm thinking these squares will honor someone else's.

From left to right: (all squares were knit with yarn from my stash. I think my grandparents would have appreciated the frugality of it all!)

Block 1: In memory of my grandfather William Cryder (who died when I was 5 months old). This square is Jawoll washable sock yarn in a green/yellow/red colorway (the ball band has long since disappeared) knit together with black Peruvian alpaca in a fingering weight. I love how the square looks like stained glass. I threw in some vertical twisted ribs to add some texture to the plain garter stitch.

Block 2: In memory of my grandfather Charles "Shep" Shetler. This square is a basketweave stitch done in Berella Country Garden D.K. machine washable 100% Merino, in a soft sage green. The yarn made me think of how Pop-pop loved to garden, especially irises.

Block 3: In memory of my grandmother Lula "Sister" Shetler. This square is pink/lilac/taupe variegated wool sock yarn from Dorchester Farms knit with Froehlich Wolle washable sock yarn in taupe. I did an open dropstitch pattern in keeping with Grammie's love of crochet. (If I had really planned this out, I would have figured out how to do a chevron pattern.)

Block 4: In honor of my grandmother Irene Nell Holcomb Cryder. This is the first block I knitted for the project. It's a trinity stitch square combining 2 strands of Baby Ull; one in periwinkle, the other a sky blue. I used the trinity stitch to honor the fact she has been a spiritual mentor for me and the colors are her favorite.

Thanks Kristy and company for taking on this project! I hope we have enough squares to give to all the residents.