A Year's Worth of Work

This past weekend, along with many other events at Corgi Hollows, I finished my son's Aran fisherman's sweater.  It took about a year to do.  Last year I did one for son number two, and in the photos it shows a turtle neck----not a popular feature, apparently.    Before I redo that neck I decided to show both of these sweaters together before one of them leaves for college this coming Sunday.  Yes, the time has come to say "Onward" to my firstborn.  Soon I might be seeing him in his ROTC uniform and I can't imagine what that will do to me!  I'm so happy he's doing so well.
The beautiful bedspread (it is a full size) is the work of my Grandma Bessie.  She did over 20 of these in her lifetime, and each spread took about a year to make.  I have one, as I am the youngest of her grand-daughters.  It is a treasure.  As I was knitting the sweaters (and I have two more to make) I thought of Grandma Bessie many times.  I know what it's like to work on a project seemingly endlessly.  She won the grand sweepstakes prize at the Minnesota State Fair one year.  The story goes that someone she'd given the spread to entered it in her name for the crochet class, and low and behold, she took the top honor!   You can see why!  Her work was beautiful. 
She died when I was seven, but I still have fond memories of her and her quiet insistence that I finish one project before I began another.  A good life lesson.