Janice's Blanket

My friend Janice Rosema passed away on February 13, 2013.  She was one of the most talented fiber artists I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  In order to cover her final expenses, and to help her husband financially, Natalie Redding of Namaste Farms worked with Janice's estate to curate a series of auctions of her works, materials, and tools.  

Among the collection offered in the first phase of the auction was this collection of log cabin squares, created by Janice.  When the package arrived at my studio, I opened it to find 8 total pieces: 4 squares completed and joined, one square completely edged, 2 squares un-edged, and the last square partially edged.  It's as if Janice left it in progress at a point where I could pick up and see clearly how she was working.  (Even in death, she still teaches me.)

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Log Cabin Vest by Janice Rosema

I did some hunting on her Ravelry page, looking for clues as to what this project was intended to be.  My best guess is her Log Cabin Vest - especially since 4 of the squares had been joined as if they were the back of a jacket.

Knowing that I wanted to use this unfinished project as a way to pay tribute to Janice, (and that I probably wouldn't wear a vest like this,) the decision was made to move forward using these pieces as inspiration; just the way Janice would have liked.

As of now, I have decided to make a blanket out of these pieces.  The humble (and slow) beginning has been to photograph the pieces, study the edging and confirm that I know what she was doing.  After some experimentation I found the correct crochet hook size, and picked up where my sweet friend left off.  

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The project is on my Ravelry Page as Janice's Blanket.  As the project progresses, I'll add more images and information there.  Once it's complete, most likely I'll return here to the blog to add a summary of the work and show the final blanket.

In the meantime, here are the images of the pieces as they arrived from Janice's estate.  I miss my talented, supportive, creative friend... but having this work of hers to continue brings me a bit of comfort.