Santa Fe Shawl Update!

For anyone who read my old blog, you know that the Santa Fe Shawl has been an ongoing project for some time now.  It was a knit-a-long with Bron (see her link on my sidebar -- Bron's Blog II).  The knitting stopped for a while in March when my life took an unexpected "detour."  Bron graciously agreed to put the project on hold until I was ready to pick it back up.  If you read her blog, you will realize that she has lots of other projects to keep her busy!  Recently, I dug the shawl back out of its knitting bag.  It is a birthday present for my mother-in-law whose birthday is this month.  I really wanted to get it done.  I contacted Bron who gave me the nod to go ahead.  Alas, she is not completely happy with her Santa Fe Shawl  and is not sure if she will complete it or send it to the frogpond.  I await the verdict on its fate in one of her future blog entries.  I finished knitting the shawl yesterday.  I gave it a bath an stretched it out on the blocking board.  Easier said than done!  The directions warn that there will be a bit of a battle with this shawl, and they are not kidding!  But I won, and the largest piece of the shawl is blocked to a perfect 24" X 48".  Today it is the smaller piece's turn.  Once blocked, I will sew the two pieces together in an "L" shape and then crochet on the beads along the edges.  I promise pictures of the completed shawl!  So, there will be another finished project on my sidebar soon!

My "Start-itis" is Acting Up Again!

Now that Conner's Prayer Blanket is in the completed projects column, it is time to maybe start another project???  I know, I know.  I already have 3 incomplete projects in the WIP column.  But still, why not add another!  I have been thinking of knitting a tank top (seems I've bitten by the same bug that the rest of blogdom has).  I just want something kind of plain with a "v" neckline -- something simple and mindless that I could work on at lunchtime.  I decided on the tank top in the FCEK Spring/Summer issue on pg. 27, but decided to omit the triangle design in the middle.  I already had several balls of a yarn in my stash from Reynolds called Sedona, a variagated egyptian cotton.  It is shades of puple and teal and very silky and pretty.  I am having trouble with the gauge swatch, though.  It seems I have to go down a couple of needle sizes from the recommended one.  I tend to knit very loosely.  Unfortunately, it makes my hands ache to use small needles so we will see if this project actually makes it past the "beginning stage" or gets sent to the "frog pond".  Speaking of the rest of blogdom, I have been struggling to resist the lure of the fabulous "Charlotte's Web" shawl that so many other knitting bloggers seem to have fallen prey to.  Those Koigu colors are simply gorgeous!  I fear I am beginning to lose the battle!  I can already come up with more reason to knit this than reasons not to knit it!  Maybe as a reward!  Yesterday I went into Michael's for some paints and of course I had to check out the yarns.  They have some new stuff there, and it was tempting, but I ended up leaving with the paints I went in there for, and nothing else.  Then I went to Walmart for some groceries.  Of course I had to look at the yarns, and they also have some really cool new stuff!  But I left with the groceries I went in for and nothing else.  All that self-control deserves a Koigu reward, don't you think????  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm............

The Finished Prayer Blanket

Here it is, as promised!  The picture of the finished Prayer Blanket for Conner.  Cindy (Conner's grandmother) came by the hospital this weekend to visit, and I presented her with the blanket to take with her when she leaves for Florida on June13th.  She has had to resign from Lynchburg General for awhile until it is certain that Conner's surgery has been successful -- at which point she plans to return to us.  We miss her.  Conner's surgery is set for June 15th.  The blanket was finished just in time.  Her son's mother in law is an avid knitter, but had never heard of Prayer blankets or Prayer shawls.  She is very interested in finding out more about them.  I told Cindy about the book, "Knitting Into the Mystery"  and asked her to pass along the info.  As I said in my previous entry, knitting one of these was a very uplifting experience for me, but that was nothing compared to the feeling I got when Cindy opened the bag and I told her what it was.  She hugged it closely and cried and said that it was the most beautiful and comforting thing that she had ever heard of.  Now, I believe that that is because these blankets (or shawls) are visual, tangible objects that someone can hold and they are visual reminders of the love and prayers that the knitter has poured out for that person.  It is something that the person can wrap around themselves and "feel the love." Now maybe that sounds overly sappy, but the fact remains that that was one of the most powerful spiritual moments I have ever had.  Knit (or crochet) one for someone, and see for yourself!

Conner's Prayer Blanket is Finished!

Today I put the finishing touches on Conner's Prayer Blanket.  I wove in all those ends from the stripes and crocheted an edging all the way around the blanket in blue.  I am pleased with how it came out!  I sort of made it up as I went along, so I wasn't sure how it would all turn out in the end.  All in all, knitting this blanket was a unique experience.  I had read about prayer shawls in a book I recently bought,  "Knitting Into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl Knitting Ministry."  While reading it, I thought that I would take the shawl idea from the book and adapt it to blanket for a 22 month old baby boy that has been plagued with seizures since he was 1 month old.  He is the grandson of Cindy, a friend and coworker of mine.  What I experienced while knitting this blanket is sort of remarkable.  I am going through some difficult things in my own life right now, and it is easy to sink into self pity and depression when faced with so many difficult life-altering problems all at once.  I found that praying for Conner and his family while knitting this blanket sort of took me out of myself.  I discovered that as I was concentrating on praying for Conner, I felt much better.  I felt strengthened and hopeful and much more positive.  I will miss knitting on this blanket!  It was a sort of a therapy for me.  Luckily, Cindy is in town at the moment and will be here until June 13th when she returns to Florida to be there for Conner's surgery.  I will give the blanket to her to take back with her. 

Prayer Blanket Progress

The Prayer Blanket for Conner is just about halfway finished.  I ended up using the wonderful, soft Lion Brand Terryspun that I already had.  I went to Michaels and checked out the Polarspun, but they didn't have enough of the blue varigated that I wanted to use.  Now that I see how  the Terryspun is knitting up, I am so glad that they did not have the Polarspun!  I love this blanket!  It is so soft and snuggly!  I am making a square blanket, and I started in one corner and am working alternating powder blue and white stripes on the diagonal. I am just about to the point where I will start decreasing.  One more white stripe and half a blue one, and the decreases will begin.  Once finished with the square, I plan on crocheting a border around the blanket.  I have been knitting pretty exclusively on this blanket, so there is not much to tell about the other projects.  Except of course that I finished up Mom's scarf the day after I wrote my last entry and gave it to her for Mother's Day.  She loved it!  Dad promised to take a picture of it and email it to me, and when he does I will post it.  I really need to get another digital camera!!!  If I could only stop buying yarn long enough!!!!!!!!!!

A Prayer Blanket for Conner

As you can see, I have added another project to my sidebar!  It is a little quickie project for my Mom for Mother's Day.  It is a really gorgeous summer weight scarf knit out of a yarn I bought from Linda's Custom Yarns.  It is called "Slippery When Wet" and it is gorgeous!  I wish I had a digital camera (that works!) to take a picture of it now, but I will get Dad to take one when I give it to Mom and post that.  The yarn is sort of a satiny ribbon type yarn in varigated colors of teal, fuschia, and peacock blue.  Then there is a glittery puple strand mixed with it.  I added another eyelash yarn in varigated teal, purple and fuschia.  The effect is absolutely gorgeous, and you should see it shine in the sunlight!  Wow!  I am knitting it on size 13 needles, so it is going very fast.  Another project that will be showing up on my sidebar soon is a prayer blanket for the grandson of a coworker.  This little 22 month old baby has had seizures all his young life and they are beginning to become severe.  So much so, that the doctors have decided that the only thing left to do is to remove the right half of his brain.  He has been through 2 previous brain surgeries to see if partial removals could stop the seizures, but the seizures just move to another part of the right side of his brain.  Surgery is scheduled for June.  I had been reading about the prayer shawl ministry, and decided to do a variation of this and knit a blanket for Conner.  The idea is to pray for the person the whole time you are knitting the shawl (or blanket).  I have some old Lion Brand Terryspun in both powder blue and white, but I am going to check Michaels tomorrow and see if I might like the Lion Brand Polarspun better.  I did a baby hat for Janet's granddaughter out of that at Christmas, and it felt wonderful!  I was thinking of the Delft blue varigated blue/white color. Updates on the ongoing projects:  Aztec Sun Top -- I am glad that I decided to add the lime.  It really needed that little spark of color!  Santa Fe Shawl -- have done a few rows of this at lunchtime at work, but really need to get on the ball soon as this is a birthday gift for my mother in law's birthday on June 12!

Gotta Swatch!

The gauge swatch is done for the Aztec Sun Top.  I hate to swatch!  But it is very necessary for me.  I tend to knit very loosely and if I don't swatch, I could very well end up with a disaster!  That actually happened on the first sweater I ever knit.  I was so proud of it!  It had a little simple fair isle design around the neckline and it was bright red (one of my favorite colors).  I couldn't wait to get it put together and try it on!  When I did, I was crushed.  It was HUGE!!!!!!!  I learned a hard lesson with that sweater -- gotta swatch!  Now that that task is complete, I am ready to begin the knitting!  I changed my mind a little in the color scheme.  I had chosen the turquoise to knit the body of the sweater and mango to knit the trim and embroider the suns.  Then I decided the sweater needed a touch more color, so I went back to Michaels and picked up some lime to do the trim in.  I think I will like that alot better.  For some reason, the colors look more "balanced" now.  Also, I picked up my Northern Lights crochet jacket again after seeing how beautiful Bron's turned out.  If you remember from my old blog, it is being crocheted in Luxor Plus yarn in the color Black Confetti.  I also picked up the red and purple beads to finish off the Santa Fe shawl that I am working on in the color Ruby Cool (red, purple and white).  I am also ready to start knitting on that shawl and get that done. I am sure you see a pattern here -- bright and primary colors for me -- I am no pastel-type person! lol!