May 2006

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Comforting Ourselves and Others

This month, I'd like to talk about comfort shawls, sometimes also called prayer shawls. These lovely garments are hand made by knitters as gifts for those who have recently been through a crisis or who have lost a loved one. With each stitch that is made, the knitter incorporates thoughts or prayers for the recipient. More than simply a garment to be warn in bad weather, these shawls are gifts from the heart, meant to be a symbol of the love that is knitted into each stitch.

In the movie Shadowlands, C.S. Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) tells a young boy whose mother has just died, that we don't pray to get what we want or to ask God to do something for us, as if he were a big Santa figure in the sky. "That's not why I pray, Harry;" Lewis told the boy, "I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless; I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God; it changes me."

We pray to change ourselves. I love this sentiment, because I believe that prayer is a form of meditation that puts us in touch with the strength and compassion deep inside our own hearts. Although I personally don't believe in gods or the supernatural, I definitely believe in the power of prayer. It is a force that can bring love and goodness into the world because prayerful meditation makes us shut out the bad news and stress of every day life, and puts us in a position to allow our own compassion to come to the surface. I particularly love comfort shawl ministries because I see shawls as tangible representations of this compassion. What better representation of love, than a warm, cuddly hand-knit shawl?

Two of my favorite knitting books, Mindful Knitting by Tara Jon Manning and Inpsired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis, both touch on this power that we can acheive through mindfulness. In Mindful Knitting, Manning writes, “The smallest action can send out a breath of fresh air to everyone we encounter. The world lightens up a little. As each person feels that little bit of relief—that little encounter with basic goodness and compassion—the world begins to lighten up a lot.”

What could be smaller than a single knit stitch?

And yet, by making one stitch after another,

we can bring peace to our own hearts and joy and lightness to others.

I hope this month's postings encourage you to take some time to knit mindfully, to touch the compassion in your own hearth, and to touch someone else's life with the gift of a hand-knit comfort shawl.

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Pattern: Comfort Shawl

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Comfort Shawl Links

Whether you call them comfort shawls or prayer shawls, there's no doubt that receiving a hand knit shawl brings love into the life of someone in need. These resources include patterns as well as information on joining or starting your own shawl knitting group. To find a group in your area, try a local Google or Yahoo! search, or check out the search engine on the Lion Brand link below.

  This Comfort Shawl Pattern is for an easy triangular shawl. It's a very interesting pattern and the contrasting color trim outlines the shape, making it visually appealing.

The Prayer Shawl Ministry was started in 1998 by Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo. According to their website, the two women are "graduates of the 1997 Women's Leadership Institute at The Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, [which] gave birth to a ministry as a result of their experience in this program of applied Feminist Spirituality." Through this program "Compassion and the love of knitting/crocheting have been combined into a prayerful ministry and spiritual practice which reaches out to those in need of comfort and solace, as well as in celebration and joy." The site includes suggestions for shawl giving, patterns, and tips on starting your own shawl program.

Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry by Susan S. Izard, Susan S. Jorgensen is a beautiful book written by a United Church of Christ minister and a Roman Catholic laywoman. The book is chock full of stories that will inspire and energize you to get involved. It is not a pattern book. On page 8, the authors say, "This book will be part instruction, a passing on of all that we have learned in the years that we have been involved in knitting shawls for others. It will be part reflection, as we attempt to put into words what actually happens when we knit, when we pray, when we gather, when we give away, when we receive. It will be part story, as we tell you what has happened to us and to many others who have been involved in this ministry. And it will be part prayer, as we pass on to you the prayers that we have written when we have given shawls away and that we have invited others to write specifically for this book."

Lion Brand Yarn has stories about knitters who have given and received prayer shawls, as well as a free pattern for a shawl. They also have a search engine you can use to search for prayer shawl groups in your area. A great resource. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the links.

On the website Fiberarts for a Cause, is a photo and story about a beautiful prayer shawl made by fiber artist, Nancy J. Spiegel Rosman. About the shawl, she says, "Click of needles, rhythm of hands, quiet contemplation. / Stories of hope, young and old. Stories of love, rich and poor. / Knit within the stitches thoughts for well-being, for healing, for comfort. / A Prayer Shawl to wrap warm thoughts around someone special." It's a beautiful sentiment and definitely worth taking a look at the lovely design. The stitch detail doesn't show on a thumbnail, so I haven't included one here.

Heartmade Blessings is "a not-for-profit, world-wide group of volunteers dedicated to providing hand-crafted items to those people suffering a loss, tragedy, or going through a rough time that need to be reminded of the simple fact that people care." Their website includes a page of guidelines for contributing a comfort shawl or comfort afghan along with information on where you can send donations.

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Lesson: Knitting Lace

Knitting lace can be intimidating because lace projects are often made with fine yarns on tiny needles, using intricate charted patterns. But lace can be easy, too. It can be made out of heavy yarns, on large needles, with simple stitches that can be memorized after just a few rows.

Lace uses the same basic techniques and stitches as other styles of knitting; however, there are many ways to knit, purl, increase, and decrease and not all are appropriate for knitting lace. These are the techniques that I've found work best. I knit Continental style, so these pictures show me carrying the yarn in my left hand. The instructions are the same if you carry the yarn in your right hand.

The Knit Stitch (K)

The basic knit stitch works perfectly in lace knitting.

1. With the working yarn in back of the needle, insert the right needle under the left needle and into the first stitch from front to back.

2. Wrap the working yarn around the right needle counter-clockwise.

3. Pull the yarn through the loop on the left needle.

4. Drop the old stitch from the left needle. You now have one new knit stitch on the right needle.

The Purl Stitch (P)

Not all purl stitches are created equal, because some turn the stitches around on the needles. I learned one of these unusual purls from my grandmother, and it was decades before I figured out why I couldn't follow any instructions for lace stitches. The following purl stitch situates the stitches on the needle in the correct orientation for lace.

1. With the working yarn in front of the left needle, insert the right needle into the first stitch from back to front.

2. Wrap the working yarn around the right needle counter clockwise. (If you hold the yarn in your left hand, dip your index finger behind the needle to wrap the yarn.)

3. Pull the yarn through.

4. Drop the old stitch from the left needle. You now have one new purl stitch on the right needle.

Yarn Over (YO)

A Yarn Over adds a hole to your knitting. This is what creates the lacy texture. A yarn over also increases, or adds an extra stitch to your knitting. Every yarn over must be matched up to a corresponding decrease or the number of stitches will not stay the same.

1. Bring the yarn between the needles to the front, and then over the needle again to the back of the work to begin the next knit stitch. (If the next stitch is a purl, bring the yarn to the front once again, between the two needles).

2. Work the next stitch as called for in the instructions or chart. (Photo shows a regular knit stitch following a yarn over).

On the next row, work the yarn over as a regular knit or purl stitch.

Decreases (dec)

The last thing you need to know to knit lace is how to make decreases. There are many different types of decreases used in lace, and each pattern should explain the types of decreases that are required. Some decreases slant toward the left, and others slant toward the right. Some turn two stitches into one stitch, and others turn three stithces into one stitch. Lace designers are very picky about the decreases they use, to get just the right look. So always follow the decreasing instructions exactly as given unless you are a very experienced lace knitter.