A stitch in time: the strangers taking on unfinished knitting projects for grieving families

Caitlin Huson meets the volunteer ‘finishers’ completing labours of love after their makers pass away

Loose Ends founders Masey Kaplan and Jen Simonic knit together (Winky Lewis)

Karen Sturges was knitting five baby sweaters, one for each grandchild’s future baby, when she was suddenly diagnosed with lymphoma. She did not have much longer to live.

As she dealt with the devastation of the diagnosis, one thing kept coming up.

“The thing that she was most worried about was finishing these sweaters,” says her daughter Annie Gatewood, 53. “She was just distraught that she didn’t think she was going to be able to finish.”