Steve's Shawl

Steve's mother died early last Sunday morning. She has been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and on Sunday she just drifted away. We had been expecting this outcome for a few months, so since May, I have been working on a Prayer Shawl for him.

In my head, I saw his shawl as symbolic of the beach -- a place a peace -- because I wanted his shawl to say "peace" to him, and to remind him of quiet walks on the beach, as well as the presence of God in his life.

The shawl is rectangular (about 80 x 27 inches) and is knit on the bias. I started with one stitch and increased each row on one end, knitting front and back on the second to last stitch of the row and the second stitch on the next row. I continued this pattern until the triangle gave me the width I wanted, and then, still doing the increases, I started decreases on the opposite end of the rows -- knitting the third and second stitches to the last in the row together as well as slipping and knitting together the second and third stitches at the beginning of the next row. When it was long enough, I stopped doing the increases and kept decreasing until I was back to one stitch.

Two-thirds of the shawl is blue (Araucania Nature Wool Solids), but isn't solid. There are light and dark values of blue in the yarn, so the blue section looks a little like waves and water. The sand is Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix. There is a surf line, which is a cream colored wool (two rows). I knit it with US size 11, harmony circle needles from Knitpicks.

Sewn to the sand are seashell charm. There is one in the picture to the left, although it is in shadow and is hard to see. On one corner are three charms -- cross with alpha fish (faith), anchor (hope) and heart (love).

Knitting as Ministry

My church has an active prayer shawl ministry. Each week five or ten or more shawls are placed on the altar rail during the offering. These shawls go to our local Hospice House, to members of the congregation and beyond to offer comfort and prayers. It's a beautiful, blessed ministry.

I am a knitter. I am not part of this ministry. I thought I would be when it started, a few years ago, but I never jumped in and did it. I've never felt a calling to that ministry, even though I am a knitter, and could certainly knit the shawls. I've posted the photo above in order to show you how prolific and wonderful the ministry it; none of the projects are my work.

I have knitted two prayer shawls in my life. Both of them were for good friends of ours who had lost parents. One of them I just finished, and one was knit in 2006. The friends are husband and wife; the four of us -- well, I don't have words, but this couple is very special to us.

What I have noticed about knitting prayer shawls is that it becomes a compulsion. I knit late into the night, I knit in the car, in the movies, at lunch, at church meetings. I just HAVE to work on it. Knitting for me is usually a relaxing, creative enterprise. Prayer shawl knitting is in no way relaxing. I must do it, and I must finish the shawl as soon as possible. As I work, I find myself setting daily row goals. As I get closer to the end, those goals become larger and larger, and my drive to complete them becomes even stronger. When I finish, there is a wonderful sense of completion and relief. It is as if there is a call to FINISH it, and get it where it needs to be.

I suppose if I were knitting shawls for people I didn't know, I would have that drive about it, but I can't imagine doing this all the time.

All of that said, knitting these two shawls was a worshipful experience. It's not one I would trade for anything. I can't imagine that knitting a generic shawl would have that same kind of spiritual attachment.

I think I'll stick to my regular socks and failed sweaters.

Jeff's Shawl

I'm still working on the sock, and I'm almost done with the first one, but last Monday, I sat them aside and picked up another project.

A friend of mine's father died early last Friday morning. He had a stroke a week ago Thursday. On Monday I started a prayer shawl for my friend. I wasn't going to do that, but on Saturday morning, as I woke up, an image for the shawl came to mind. I lay in bed and designed the shawl in my head, and how it would visually represent Psalm 23 (an important passage for my friend during this time). I finished the shawl this evening and left it for him at his house.

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool -- black, denim blue, green, light blue, burgandy, tan. One skien of each, except for the denim blue and green (2 each).

Needles: Knitpicks harmony circular needles, 24 inch cable, size US 11 needles.

Pattern: 81 stitches across, stitched in Trinity stitch.

The shawl ended up being much longer than I envisioned it -- 86 inches -- and 24 inches wide. The yarn was OK, although I've worked with softer wool than this.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name's sake,
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, you are with me
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
You annoint my head with oil
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, my whole life long.

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)