I didn't think I'd have anything blog-worthy today, but lo and behold, I remembered that the finished Prayer Shawl for Chuck was in Lee's truck. So I got it out and took its picture. It's nice and stripey, and really doesn't look like it is a bunch of different colors, does it? I do realize that choosing to photograph lovely handknits while one is wearing a fairly garish tie-dye t-shirt is not the ideal fashion choice. But, it did get to be a reasonable length, and I am happy to say the knitting is fairly consistent, given that 7 people of varying ages and gauges worked on it.
Of course, it didn't get finished quickly enough to actually get it to our minister before he went far off, so it will have to be a "welcome back" shawl. That's good, because that leaves me plenty of time to wash it more than once and get all the dog and cat dander out of it. After sniffing the shawl, I realized everyone who had worked on it had multiple pets, and the recipient has allergies! So, I'll get it all clean and put it in a plastic bag, away from my animals.
How do you get one of these? Again, you go out and buy as many skeins of Noro Kureyon, Silk Garden or other self-striping yarn as you can find and parcel them out to people who want to help. Then knit up the standard broken garter stitch prayer shawl in whatever width you want. Each person knits up their ball of yarn! If you don't have enough people, some can knit more than one skein (on this one I knit three).
I thought the prayer shawl was a good item to post today, since, if I were a praying type, I'd say my prayers were answered today when Lee got a job lined up, after a lot of delays. He is going on as a contractor where he'd hoped to get a full time job with benefits, but the contract can extend, and they hope it will eventually become the "real" job that got put on hold. This means a lot more breathing room for us. Thanks to all who were sending out vibes, prayers or thoughts for this.
Now I invite you to turn your energies toward one of my favorite yarn vendors, Ray from Knitivity. He has already been through Hurricane Katrina, and now is having to deal with the aftermath of Ike. He actually makes his living dyeing yarn, which means if he can't dye, he can't earn money. Who knows how long he will be without electricity, or how much damage his mobile home received in the hurricane?
What I did to help a little was to go over and order some yarn, so that when he CAN do it, he will have work to do, and money to cover repairs and living expenses. And it's not like it's torture. The yarn is lovely! I ordered a "surprise" skein of sock yarn, and look forward to seeing what this month's surprise is. My kids' high school gym is full of refugees, and I have done little things to help people in general, but it is nice to know I helped someone specific, too. If you were wondering how you could help some of the people whose lives were precarious to start out with, and who can really be devastated by the aftermath of a random piece of weather, think about Ray or someone else you know of who could use a boost. All I know is that, with all our job issues, we haven't been that far from crossing the line where it would be hard to recover from ourselves.
Happy knitting--I'll be working on my socks during a meeting tonight but hope to get back to Maelstrom when I get home, and more tomorrow!
PS: I ordered yarn to make OpArt from the new Knitty for a baby who will be here in March. I got black and white KnitPicks Swoosh. Oops, Ray really doesn't like KnitPicks, but hey, I want to use the yarn called for in the pattern so it will be vaguely right. And I had to replace my needle gauge that I lent out at Chicks with Sticks and have not seen since. So I patronize LOTS of yarn sources, I am keeping the yarn economy happy!
Showing posts with label prayer shawl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer shawl. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Holiday Weekend of Boring Knitting
I wish I were announcing a new pattern, finishing a fancy project, or something that would give me a huge spike in readers like last week, but, thankfully, this isn't a blog out to get the most possible readers, but rather one that plods through my boring stretches as well as celebrating exciting stuff.
This holiday weekend's project is not the most exciting, nor is it all that original. But it's meaningful! I think I mentioned it earlier, but if I didn't, what I am working on is a prayer shawl for one of the ministers at our church. Chuck is a really nice guy with whom I have worked on various projects and been through a lot of trauma (on both our parts). He is going on a sabbatical, his first since he joined this church over a decade ago (after many years of not wanting to be a church minister--Unitarian Universalism was not his original faith). One of the other knitters at the church got the idea of making a prayer shawl, and having a bunch of the knitters in the congregation contribute. I said I'd be happy to help, and she went on to find other volunteers, ranging from her pre-teen daughter to Diane, another regular reader of this blog.
The organizer and I got together at the LYS last week and found 7 colors of Noro Kureyon (see photo) that all had brown and other neutrals in it, one skein per person (because, as I may have mentioned, I just can't "do" Lion Brand Homespun). The photo shows the first skein knitted up in the "standard" prayer shawl K3, P3 broken garter stitch pattern. Once I knitted the first skein, I realized it wouldn't be quite long enough with just 7 skeins, so it was agreed that I'd do two more, because I am the fastest. Tomorrow I'll get two more colors, either ones in the first batch, or others if I find two more that are suitable. Then I will pass it on to Diane.
I know that group projects can have gauge issues. I knit loosely, for example, and Diane knits tightly. So, I did my part on size 8 needles, hope Diane will use 10.5, and hope the rest of the folks will use 10s. I think that will work. Slight variations will just add to the charm of the group project, I think!
And I am pretty sure good ole Chuck will appreciate the shawl. it looks pretty durned manly, yet has some nice colors. All the neutrals blend and change, so it will remind him of the individuals supporting him as he explores his interests and spreads his wings for a few months!
Um, also...I actually enjoyed working on the project. It was a nice break from all those lace patterns!
This holiday weekend's project is not the most exciting, nor is it all that original. But it's meaningful! I think I mentioned it earlier, but if I didn't, what I am working on is a prayer shawl for one of the ministers at our church. Chuck is a really nice guy with whom I have worked on various projects and been through a lot of trauma (on both our parts). He is going on a sabbatical, his first since he joined this church over a decade ago (after many years of not wanting to be a church minister--Unitarian Universalism was not his original faith). One of the other knitters at the church got the idea of making a prayer shawl, and having a bunch of the knitters in the congregation contribute. I said I'd be happy to help, and she went on to find other volunteers, ranging from her pre-teen daughter to Diane, another regular reader of this blog.
The organizer and I got together at the LYS last week and found 7 colors of Noro Kureyon (see photo) that all had brown and other neutrals in it, one skein per person (because, as I may have mentioned, I just can't "do" Lion Brand Homespun). The photo shows the first skein knitted up in the "standard" prayer shawl K3, P3 broken garter stitch pattern. Once I knitted the first skein, I realized it wouldn't be quite long enough with just 7 skeins, so it was agreed that I'd do two more, because I am the fastest. Tomorrow I'll get two more colors, either ones in the first batch, or others if I find two more that are suitable. Then I will pass it on to Diane.
I know that group projects can have gauge issues. I knit loosely, for example, and Diane knits tightly. So, I did my part on size 8 needles, hope Diane will use 10.5, and hope the rest of the folks will use 10s. I think that will work. Slight variations will just add to the charm of the group project, I think!
And I am pretty sure good ole Chuck will appreciate the shawl. it looks pretty durned manly, yet has some nice colors. All the neutrals blend and change, so it will remind him of the individuals supporting him as he explores his interests and spreads his wings for a few months!
Um, also...I actually enjoyed working on the project. It was a nice break from all those lace patterns!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Thanks, and Triangles Dishcloth
Hey, thanks, everyone for your wonderful comments on the wedding shawl. I am so pleased with it, and with all the nice things you said. Last night I even found some dresses online that might go with it--garnet colored silk "suit" kind of formal attire. I'll just have to head down to the expensive wedding shop once I am working, and look at them.
I do have something like a job starting next week, teaching MS Office applications 3-4 days a week. Still hoping that the two jobs I want come through--they should, just are moving slowly.
The knitting right now is not as exciting as it has been, but still moving along. Here's one of the many pink dish cloths I have been knitting for a friend from my former life. Her kitchen is pink and has a cherry theme, so this cherry pink yarn had to be used. I am making up cloths using patterns in the new Harmony Guides. This one is the Eyelet Pyramids pattern, on page 176. I knitted 8 rows of garter stitch for the border and have 4 stitch borders in garter stitch. I cast on 47 stitches for the cloth. It's obviously not blocked. The nice thing about this pattern is that it looks pretty good on both sides. I like that in a dishcloth, though some of the ones I've made don't do that. An example is the Three Cherries dischcloth below, whose pattern I got off the Internet. I am not thrilled with this one, but I think I'll make another anyway, since it fits the theme. And yes, these two cloths are made with the same yarn. My camera just went weird with the cherry one and made it look orange.
I'm using random cotton yarn from my stash and some I got on sale at the LYS. After this I was supposed to start another Lace and Cable cardigan, but I think I have to knit 1/7 of a prayer shawl for our minister who is going on sabbatical first. I admit that I have never made one of those. I am hoping we can make it in Noro Kureyon or something fun. I just can't handle Lion Brand Homespun at this point in my life. It bothers my hands. Chuck's a nice guy, and taking his sabbatical to do some interesting liberal do-gooder stuff, so I am happy to work on something for him, and how long can it take to knit up one ball of Kureyon, anyway?
Tomorrow I will post another fine dishcloth from the Eyelet and Cable Harmony Guide.
I do have something like a job starting next week, teaching MS Office applications 3-4 days a week. Still hoping that the two jobs I want come through--they should, just are moving slowly.
The knitting right now is not as exciting as it has been, but still moving along. Here's one of the many pink dish cloths I have been knitting for a friend from my former life. Her kitchen is pink and has a cherry theme, so this cherry pink yarn had to be used. I am making up cloths using patterns in the new Harmony Guides. This one is the Eyelet Pyramids pattern, on page 176. I knitted 8 rows of garter stitch for the border and have 4 stitch borders in garter stitch. I cast on 47 stitches for the cloth. It's obviously not blocked. The nice thing about this pattern is that it looks pretty good on both sides. I like that in a dishcloth, though some of the ones I've made don't do that. An example is the Three Cherries dischcloth below, whose pattern I got off the Internet. I am not thrilled with this one, but I think I'll make another anyway, since it fits the theme. And yes, these two cloths are made with the same yarn. My camera just went weird with the cherry one and made it look orange.
I'm using random cotton yarn from my stash and some I got on sale at the LYS. After this I was supposed to start another Lace and Cable cardigan, but I think I have to knit 1/7 of a prayer shawl for our minister who is going on sabbatical first. I admit that I have never made one of those. I am hoping we can make it in Noro Kureyon or something fun. I just can't handle Lion Brand Homespun at this point in my life. It bothers my hands. Chuck's a nice guy, and taking his sabbatical to do some interesting liberal do-gooder stuff, so I am happy to work on something for him, and how long can it take to knit up one ball of Kureyon, anyway?Tomorrow I will post another fine dishcloth from the Eyelet and Cable Harmony Guide.
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