Mary's Shawl

Wonder of wonders, another project finished. Two in one month? Unbelievable. This one, however, practically knit itself. A friend of mine lost her mother the week before last. The day I heard the news, I was thinking about her and decided to knit this project -- a prayer shawl -- for her.

Specifications:

Yarn: Praire Silk. I've never used this yarn before, but our LYS had it on hand. It's similar to Lamb's Pride, which I have used before, except this yarn has an added 10% silk, which gives it a very slight sheen. I loved this yarn as I knit with it. It was easy to wind from skein to ball. My husband, who is my swift, especially liked it, as it made his job super easy. It did have some odd, undyed white slubs, which I started to pick out, but then just left in.

I used five colors (since my LYS didn't have enough of any one color to do a solid shawl):

• Franc Framboise
• Baht Blue
• Ruble Red
• Guilder Green
• Real Royal

Who thinks up these color names? I used two skeins of each, except for Baht Blue (1 skein).

Stitch Pattern: Trinity stitch from the Prayer Shawl site with a slip stitch edge. This is a very simple pattern, but I enjoyed its simplicity as I knit it. I cast on (57 stitches) and bound off with size 15 needles to have a looser edge than the size 11 would provide. It is narrower and longer than I anticipated. I didn't count rows -- I just knit until each skein was gone, which was so VERY simple.

Needles: I used US size 11. I thought these might be a little big, but I liked the lacy look they produced. I finally settle on my Lantern Moon needles -- they were a pleasure with this yarn.

Finishing: The label specifies no blocking with yarn, so I did no blocking. Prior to adding fringe, I gave it a quick cold water (ick -- cold water) bath with shampoo and conditioner and some equally cold rinses. The yarn wrapper specifies adding vinegar to the final rinse, but I was washing it to remove the odd smell our LYS adds to yarn. Adding vinegar seemed counter productive. Since there was no color bleeding, I skipped the vinegar.

Fringe: Berroco suede yarn was used as fringe in the color Calamity Jane. Again, I can't help but ask, but who thinks up these colors names? Why would Calamity Jane be considered purple? What does the name Calamity Jane tell you about the color itself?

Resources: The Prayer Shawl site has many shawl patterns from which to choose, color symbolism explanations, and prayers.

May God's grace be upon this shawl...warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing. May this mantle be a safe haven... a sacred place of security and well-being...sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones. May the one who receives this shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love.(from the Prayer Shawl site)