Knitting for Ginny

A little backstory:

When I was growing up, a very nice older couple lived next door to us (understand - "next door" meant about a 1/4 mile away). Virginia - Ginny to my sister and me - treated us like one of her own grandchildren. Gene, her husband, built a bridge over the creek that ran between our properties so we could go visit any time that we wanted, and we did; Ginny was never too busy for us. We made candy, cookies, had weenie roasts, and just generally had a good time. Our own grandmother didn't live close, and Ginny was the closest thing that we had.

After Gene died 13 years ago, Ginny sold her farmhouse and went to live with her children. She alternated between her sons in Ohio and her daughter in West Virginia. 3 years ago, she went to live with her daughter full-time. I sent her Christmas cards every year with pictures of the boys, but I hadn't talked to her for about 5 years. I had tried to call her at her daughter's house several times, but I was always told that she wasn't home...and I never heard back from her.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to call Phil, one of her sons, who lives about an hour from me. As it turns out, her daughter was not taking care of Ginny, and was neglecting her care. They were taking her social security check and leaving her in a chair all day. Her husband would not let the four boys talk to her or come to see her. The boys took a stand, though, and found her a nursing home/rehab center that she liked in WV. She has been doing wonderfully since then.

All I can say is, Barb, there's a special place in Hell for both you and your husband.

I called Ginny immediately after I talked to Phil, and she was ecstatic to hear from me. We talked for almost half an hour about kids, memories of the past, and knitting. As we were hanging up, she said "Would you knit me something? I don't care what it is, as long as it's from you." I called Phil right back, and found out that since she is now wheelchair bound, she gets chilly. He is going down to see her after the first of the year, so I decided to knit her a shawl for him to take down to her.

I have 3 skeins of the purple Harrisville Highland that I used to make the vest, and the Falling Leaves pattern from Lavish Lace...and I cast on last night.

It will flatten out after blocking, but I think she'll like this. :-) I'm using larger needles and heavier wool than the pattern calls for, so it should be quite a bit warmer than if I had used laceweight. It's a very easy pattern; I had it memorized after the first repeat, and it just seems to be flying off of the needles.