Do you have a magnum opus? The kind of project that you are so proud of, so pleased that you did, and at the same time never, ever want to make again.
Maybe painters feel this way after completing a vast mural, or novelists after writing that 1000-page epic. I don’t know, but I do know that at the end of 2020 after completing my year-long Temperature Blanket I most heartily wished not to see it again for a few months/years.
By way of background
2020 was a year that sticks in the memory for all sorts of reasons, and many of them aren’t good reasons. The words ‘unprecedented’ were bandied around until we were fed up to the back teeth of them, but it’s true. We truly did live through the kind of times that our grandchildren will learn about in school and will come home to ask us questions about it for their homework projects.
At the start of 2020, not knowing what was around the corner obviously I had decided to knit a year-long Temperature Blanket. The idea being that you knit a row (or two) each day in a colour corresponding to a colour key you devise. So for example 22-24 degrees would be pale orange, 16-18 a turquoise blue. You get the idea.
It’s a simple concept and one which I’d been intrigued about for some time. I love the uniqueness of it, the fact that no two knitters would produce the same kind of blanket and I loved, with a passion, the planning of it. Yarn, notebooks, charts - very much my happy place.
I opted to knit it corner to corner (shorter rows for the first and last 3 months of the year) which I thought was a rather cunning plan. But I also opted to do 4 rows per day - in 4ply yarn - I don’t remember why now. But it did dawn on me as I moved into April that the summer months were going to entail a hell of a lot of garter stitch knitting.
During a normal year this project would have undoudtedly been quietly shelved like so many of my brainwaves before it. I’d have been distracted by other things, other events and simply moved on. In 2020 though there were no events, no activities outside the house and precious little to occupy my spiraling thoughts and anxieties.
I did however have lots of garter stitch to work on, something that the most tense and overwrought brain could work on. And so the blanket progressed, if not happily then at least efficiently.
As you can see, the finished result was huge. Some may even say mahoosive. It measured over 8 feet long and the only way I could get it all in one photo was to drape it artfully over the staircase, and with the help of my kids.
Would I knit it again? Hell, no.
Did I enjoy knitting it? Partly
Was it a blanket ‘of it’s time’? Absolutely
Blanket stats:
Like a glutton for punishment I calculated some of the basic stats for my blanket. It weighed nearly 2kg, comprised nearly 800,000 stitches and took - at a conservative estimate well over 200 hours to knit.
It’s fair to say that in a normal year, this blanket would not have happened. But it did. And while I’m not happy that 2020 turned out the way it did, at least I have my magnum opus to show for it.
You can read all of the blanket stats here.
If you have a magnum opus please do share it with me in the comments - I’d love to hear more about it - and whether you would do it again.
I was somewhat forced into learning to crochet as my mom was on her deathbed with only 7 stitches to complete the wedding for my sister and her wife….. a king size red & white stripe blanket.. I was a long time knitter and while I knew how to make a chain & sc I did not crochet.
My sister in law asked me to finish mom’s project
I said I wasn’t sure I could ~ she felt slighted so sitting beside my semi conscious mom and decided the best way to proceed was to undo 2 stitches hoping I’d be able to construct what I now know is an American dc. There were now only 9 stitches needed to complete this all important and very emotional last gift to my sister from our mom. Mom passed 2 days later. I crotched for a year…. Placemats scarves and eventually I turned to YouTube seeking to learn more and made 4 baby sweaters in 4 days. Eventually I joined a UK based group online and joined a CAL: this was when my magnum opus came to fruition!!!! A very talented designer created The Sophie’s Garden design. More complex than anything my very talented mom had ever made!! I struggled with stitch counts and front & back post treble crochets but I did as much of the pattern as I liked, and folded it up and set it aside… I wanted my finished piece to be a large square and this was changing directions multiple times. Shortly after I joined yet another CAL & found the stitch count I had was the same stitch count for a particular section in this new pattern ~ so I took her out in time out and began adding onto my Sophie’s Garden and finished her using Around the bases pattern! I was so very proud of my accomplishment & also knowing how amazed and proud mom would be.
I don’t have a comment about a magnum opus, but I think your blanket is beautiful. I hope it brings good memories as well as those you have mentioned. 2020 was a challenging year, for sure!