Prayer Shawls

 

When I first heard about prayer shawls, I assumed they were to wrap up in while praying. Having wrapped myself up in a blanket on chilly mornings during my prayer time, that made sense to me. Although, my blanket covered more of me than a shawl would. However, while it is certainly appropriate to pray while wearing a prayer shawl, that is not the intent. No, prayer shawls were meant for people who are facing a challenge, a hardship - whatever that may be - and the maker is to pray for the recipient while they are making the shawl. It's intended to be a reminder that someone is praying for you, and God loves you. 
Several years ago, one of my co-workers told me about a group making prayer shawls at her church. While I never did get the opportunity to join the group, I have kept the idea on "the back burner." I even bought a prayer shawl book. 

So, recently, I decided it was time to make a prayer shawl. I rummaged in my yarn stash to find a large skein of rose-coloured worsted weight (4) yarn. I weighed it on my kitchen scale and found it weighed 14 oz. This would give me an idea of what patterns I could use. Next, I had to find a pattern. I pulled out my prayer shawl book and was disappointed. Out of 11 patterns, one was for a shrug (prayer shrug?) and 5 were for infant (0-24 months) ponchos. I don't know about you, but I think that a poncho is a rather ridiculous garment for a tiny infant. And, while they may work for toddlers, this age is still too young to understand the concept behind a prayer shawl, or prayer poncho, as the case may be. I assume they're meant to be a reminder to the parents of the maker's prayers, and the love of God behind the gift. But I think that an afghan or quilt would be a more practical gift for an infant or toddler and still accomplish the same purpose. Maybe that's just me, but don't expect me to start producing prayer ponchos in the near future. But back to the book: that left only 5 actual shawl patterns, only 2 of which called for worsted weight yarn. The remaining three used 5-weight yarn. And none of them were what I really wanted. 

I decided that I wanted a triangular shawl, and searched the internet. Unfortunately, a lot of them seemed to be the same stitch, row after row. Boring. As I was going to be making it in a solid colour, I wanted something with some stitch/textural interest. 

And then I found Lost in Time. Wow, yes! 

Definitely stitch and textural interest!

The unfortunate thing is that the designer did the original in a lighter weight yarn than what I had to use. But, as she points out, you can use whatever yarn you want, just adjusting the hook size.

As I crocheted, I was not only praying for the recipient, but I was also praying that I would have enough yarn to make it the size I wanted. Since the pattern wasn't made for knitting worsted, I had no idea how much yarn I would need. Another thing about this pattern is that it is a 12-row repeat. You crochet rows 1 through 26, and then repeat rows 15 through 26 to get to the size you want. That's a pretty big repeat - what if I get to row 20, for example, and the shawl is as big as I want it? I could either frog back to the previous row 26, and end up with a shawl that's smaller than I want, or continue on to the next row 26 and end up with one bigger than I want. My final complaint, if indeed it is a complaint, is that printing out the pattern is a horrible waste of paper. There is a lot of unnecessary white space resulting in 15 pages of printout! I think that if the pages had been set up differently, the number of pages could have been reduced by a third or more. Nevertheless, I am still thrilled with this beautiful pattern.

I was weighing my yarn and project during the time I was making it, and determined that I might not have quite enough of the rose yarn to complete. So, I decided to add some cream-coloured yarn, if needed. How much and where I would add it was yet to be determined. I figured that I would do the border in cream, but wanted to finish the main body of the shawl with the last row in rose. When I got to the last 3 rows, I weighed my yarn before and after row 24. As the last three rows are very similar, I wanted to know how much yarn to complete one of these rows. At the end of round 24, I knew that I did not have enough of the rose to complete both rows 25 and 26, and switched to the cream for round 25. I switched back to the rose for row 26, but after completing one side, I weighed the yarn again and knew that I could not complete the row in that yarn. Frogging back, I carried the cream through the rose stitches to complete the popcorns in this row in cream, with the main part of the row in rose (that wasn't easy, by the way). Once I completed row 26, the shawl measured 62" across the long side and I decided not to add the border, as it was plenty wide enough. 

I'm going to share my data for anyone that might like to do this pattern in knitting worsted:

• Hook used - 5.00 mm/G
• Type of yarn - knitting worsted/4 (sorry, no brand as label was removed)
• Amount of yarn - 431 g/15.2 oz. (remember this amount includes the cream that was carried through row 26, but no border)
• Finished size - 62" across and 30" deep

I seldom use the same pattern twice, but don't be surprised if I use this one again as it is just so pretty. Especially since I now know how much yarn I can expect to use. Meanwhile, in my searching for patterns, I realized that I have a book of shawl patterns on my Kindle. Most (if not all) of them can also be found online. From this book, my next project is the Summer Morning Shawl. 

It reminds me of the virus shawl, which I completed in 2016. (You can see a picture of my virus shawl in the post here). I wasn't planning on starting another shawl, but I tried this yarn to see if it could work as the accent colour in the Lost in Time shawl instead of the cream and ended up with a pile of yarn vomit. I didn't want to put it back in the stash like that, so decided to just start a new project with it. Only 10 oz of this yarn, but the pattern is pretty lacy, so hopefully will have enough to make it as big as I want it. Again, this pattern is not done in knitting worsted, so I will just have to try it and see. 

Now, I need to get back to work on some of my quilting WIPs. 

I finally started Forever in My Heart, a quilt that I designed and is long overdue. 

Catching Up on UFOs

 I swear I have ADCD (Attention Deficit Crafting Disorder). I see a project I want to make, so I gather/purchase the equipment and supplies and begin. But it's not long before I get bored or sidetracked by another project that appeals to me. And then I gather the supplies and begin again. And before I know it, I have multiple WIPs (Works in Progress) and UFOs (Unfinished Objects) all over the house. And that's got to stop. Not only does it make my house very cluttered with unfinished projects, but it's stressful feeling the pressure to finish and shows a lack of discipline. So, I've resolved to not start any new yarn projects (with the exception of the odd dischcloth, or perhaps projects with a specific purpose in mind) until all of my UFOs and WIPs are completed. Nor do I intend to purchase any more yarn unless needed to complete a project. 

And, honestly, it gives me such a sense of accomplishment to complete a project. The Savvy Ruana is one such project. I had finished the main part, but still had to do the "fur" collar. And now it's done. It really didn't take long to finish it either. Not sure why I put it off, except that it got buried in clutter. 

Previous to the ruana, I finished I Want That Bag. Again, it didn't take much time as all I had left to do was sew in the jute bag liner. 

This bag fits two good-sized towels for when I take my grandson swimming (which hasn't happened since before the pandemic).

I'm really pleased with how both of these projects turned out. Why did I wait so long?

More of a WIP than a UFO, I was also pleased to get the San Diego Sunset afghan finished. 

This one is from the book, Weekend Afghans, by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. 

Currently, I'm working on finishing a zippered cardigan. I'm not sure when I started it, but I got the book that the pattern is in for my birthday over 12 years ago... I know I got stalled because the sleeve instructions were so hard to interpret and the first time I completed a sleeve, it ended up about 6" long, and it's supposed to be full-length. I finally figured out the instructions, but then got distracted... And it's now upgraded from a UFO to a WIP. 

Onward and forward!

Antique Mall Field Trip

I was checking something on my blog the other day, and realized that it's been quite some time since I posted anything. So, first an update: the sciatica is much better, thank the Lord, but not totally healed. That will just take time. My leg still aches, sometimes worse than others. And the pain continues to migrate: sometimes the knee, sometimes the shin, sometimes, the thigh, the hip, the whole leg. I continue to exercise. I don't think that I've mentioned before that sometimes when I lie flat on my back, I get dizzy/nauseated (I assume due to Meniere's). And a lot of exercises for sciatica are done lying flat on your back. Earlier in this whole sciatica thing, I was limited in how much exercise I could do, not just because of the pain, but also because of the dizziness and nausea. Then not only did the pain improve, but so did the dizziness and nausea, so I was able to complete my whole regimen of exercises (given to me by 4 different physiotherapists). Recently however, nausea has returned with a vengeance. So, I took my sister's advice and took a half tablet of Gravol (she actually takes a quarter when her Meniere's flares up), which might have provided some relief. Another thing I noticed is that the nausea is worse if I don't use a pillow. This morning, I did some of my exercises while still in bed without any noticeable nausea. Okay, must use a pillow, at the very least...
So today I took my hearing aids in for servicing, had lunch and then went on a field trip to Rocky Mountain Antique Mall. I have been looking for a ladder to display my quilts and afghans in my living room. And the antique mall had several in the parking lot, but none that was really what I was looking for. Most of them were much too long. There was one that was 7 feet, but the rungs were only 13" across. I considered a wider one, but it was about 10 feet long. I would have had to have caution flags on it as it would have hung over the end of my truck. I thought about sawing off the excess right there and then (and one of the staff offered to let me use a vintage handsaw), but I really wanted any trimming to be done where I could measure and do it properly. <sigh> So I'm still considering. 
While I was there, I figured I might as well peruse the entire mall - an ambitious undertaking for someone who still has some challenges walking without pain. But I did it (not without pain, however). The first items I noticed in the parking lot were these: 

Two khaki - and therefore I assume military - stretchers. Now these are in good shape - much too good for them to have harkened back to the Second World War. Nevertheless, they are military stretchers, and my father was a stretcher bearer during WWII. And I got a catch in my throat and it nearly brought tears to my eyes. Miss you, Dad.

In addition to the ladders and stretchers, I found this in the parking lot: 

Isn't that a terrible thing to do with a vintage quilt - use it to line the back of an old shelf (or whatever this is)? That shelf doesn't look like it was worth salvaging, let alone waste a vintage quilt on.
Just inside the door, I found this: 

A whole box of intact button cards - from when? The 30s? I'm not sure, and didn't notice if the tag said. Look at those colours! I actually have some of the same buttons in my button tin that came from my mother or grandmother. 

Here's a vintage blanket (quilt) rack: 

An adorable sewing box: 

Wouldn't this be a great chair to "stage"  your favourite quilt in?

I could hardly believe when I saw these pot menders were from my hometown! Unfortunately the flash made it difficult to read the words: "Assembled at Friendco Sheltered Workshop, St. Thomas, Ont." I remember Friendco, or the Friendship School as it was also known. It was for the developmentally disabled.

I don't remember the story behind it (if I ever knew), but in my family a dressform like this was referred to as "Dumb Dora." 

It was cheaper than the new one I bought for my daughter, and she probably would have liked the vintage one better. 

A yarn winder:

Another vintage quilt, only this one is being sold as a quilt and not being used as the backing for a shelving unit:

One of those built-in ironing boards - I guess you could fit it between the studs. Kind of a cool idea, actually. 

I had one of these orange tractors when I was a child, and I remember it with great fondness. But I didn't scribble on mine. And I highly doubt that my parents paid the amount this vendor is asking.

For the John Deere fans in the family, specifically my grandson and my great nephew, Jake. 

I can't remember the price on this baby. I think it was under $100.

I also saw a Featherweight for $280, but it didn't get its picture taken. 

And finally, what I kept going back to:

Yes, two 1920s black walnut twin beds, going for an amazing price. These interested me far more than the ladders in the parking lot. If I'd known that they would both fit into one of my spare bedrooms, they likely would have come home with me. And think of how well they would show off any quilt placed upon them. Would they look ridiculous in a 1970s house? Never mind - my dream home is one of those big old brick farmhouses in southwestern Ontario. 

I'm going upstairs to measure. 

February 2015 Vacation, Day 6

Stupid people should not own dogs. Well, they really shouldn't own any pets at all, but I'm just thinking of dogs in particular at this moment. I finally got out the snowblower yesterday and did my snow removal. Then I finished up with shovelling the deck and tidying up the sidewalk between the deck and the garage. Sometimes I do this sidewalk with the snowblower, but I like to finish it off with the shovel. As I was doing this, the neighbour let her dogs out to do their business. She has a sheltie who has spent most of her life in a chainlink kennel attached to the owner's garage. Matted, mangy-looking and mean, I never saw this dog being walked. She always barked and growled when I or someone else was in my yard. And unfortunately, her kennel afforded her a good view of the door onto my deck, which is my main door. I didn't blame the dog for being mean since she had no quality of life. But somehow I managed to befriend her with dog biscuits. I was actually asked to look after her once while her family went on vacation. And I discovered that this poor dog was just starving for attention. She actually loved being petted (don't most dogs?). Unfortunately, there was not much I could do since she was being provided food, water and shelter (she had a doggie door into the garage), and the owner was not being actively abusive. Finally a year or so ago, because the dog was getting older and arthritic, the owner took her inside. I'm not sure if this actually improved the quality of her life much, if at all. Unfortunately, not seeing me for so long, she will be her vicious little self on the odd occasion when we both happen to be out at the same time. I'm rather glad I had my shovel with me when she zoomed in for the attack yesterday. She came after me a couple of times, totally ignoring her owner, who tried to call her back. I tried to calm her by talking to her, hoping she'd recognize my voice. Since I had spilled some gas when filling the snowblower's tank, I didn't expect her to recognize my scent. However, she didn't calm down and finally returned at the owner's insistence and the fact that I didn't back down. And I was armed with a shovel. I didn't intend to use it on her, but would have if I'd had to defend myself. I really wish I could afford to put a fence up between our properties. That's on my project list, but the soffit and fascia are higher priorities. An avid dog owner I know once told me that if a dog is perpetually confined, it will go insane. And I'm beginning to wonder if this poor dog has gone insane. Nasty little piece of work that she is, I really feel sorry for her. From when I looked after her, I know that inside is a really sweet little girl. But a miserable life has made her a miserable mutt One of the other dogs let out at the same time looked appalling. I don't remember what breed it is, but it's one of those shaggy things that needs regular grooming or a haircut. Obviously, that's not being done as there were huge mats hanging off the side of this dog. When I say huge, I mean one whole side of the dog was bare with this big mat hanging off of it. It couldn't have been very warm, and it was -15C. She has a third dog, a poodley-looking thing. I don't think she ever walks any of them. She's had various and sundry dogs and cats in the 5+ years I've lived here. The cats usually just disappear and I don't know if she has them spayed or neutered. I remember one kitten that she insisted she was going to keep inside. She didn't. And he became a rather nasty tom cat, who tried to attack my Mystery on my deck. I was really relieved when she decided to leave one big dog at the home of her boys' father. That dog was loose more often than not, pooping in my yard, coming up on my deck, and I'm not sure if he was altogether safe. It's obvious she's not doing any obedience training. Why do people have pets when they're not prepared to be responsible pet owners? I don't know, but I really wish she'd stop. 
I guess that was my rant for the day. Well, the first rant. The second is about eTeacher. I've been toying with the idea of learning Biblical Hebrew, so I went online to search for an online course. I made the mistake of providing my name, email and phone number to eTeacher Hebrew to get more information. I'm only providing the link so you know what to avoid. I have received at least 2 phone calls and 5 emails from them in less than 24 hours. In today's phone call, I just told him I decided I wasn't interested. And I clicked on the unsubscribe link in the last email. Hopefully, that will be the end of that. Seriously, I don't like that kind of sales tactic and I have to question the validity of any supposed educational organization that employs that kind of tactic. Meanwhile, I've also applied for guest student status at Andrews University to see if I can take their Hebrew course online. That's the location of my denomination's main theological seminary, although I probably can't afford their course. I don't want to pay a small fortune for something that's just personal interest. I couldn't find the cost of the online course, or if Hebrew is even offered online. 
After finishing the snow removal yesterday, I decided it was time for another renoval, while I still had my coat and boots on. All of the wood that I have so far stripped from the walls in the sewing room was carried upstaris and outside behind the garage. Once I get it all off I will haul it to the dump. Or maybe that will wait till spring. 
I have to admit that I have been experiencing quilting/fabric withdrawal symptoms. Since the sewing room is in disarray and a lot of it's contents are currently stacked in my living room, and I've tried to focus my time on the renovations which I'm not getting anywhere with, I haven't been quilting. I've at least been crocheting in the evenings, but, as I've shared, the Bobble afghan is rather frustrating. So I decided to buy some fabric. Sunday is not a good day to buy fabric in my town. The only thing open that sells fabric is Walmart, which is not a great source of good quality fabric. I do occasionally buy fabric there, but it's not my favourite or primary source. But I didn't really feel like driving to the city. So I went to Walmart. Nothing really jumped out at me, shouting "Buy me, buy me" in the fabric section. As a matter of fact, their fabric section has seriously deteriorated over the years. They used to have a pretty good selection of fabric by the metre - even some good quilting cottons, but now there's only a small section of precuts. Sad. So I moved into the yarn section. Not long ago, I had enrolled in online courses to learn Bavarian Crochet and the Crocodile stitch from Annie's Catolog. I hadn't started on any of these projects yet, and several of them require sport weight yarn (3) and I only have one big ball of black in that weight. I really didn't want all of my projects to be black. So I bought some yarn that I assumed was sport weight. It's really weird because there's no weight on the label.

I found the yarn website here, but it still doesn't tell me what weight it is. But the label does have the recommended size hook/needle and the guage and it was the same as the sport weight that I compared it to. And it worked fine in my project.

Bavarian Crochet Head Band

So this is my first Bavarian Crochet project. Since I have short hair and wearing it as a head band would just make my hair stick out in every direction, I put it on as a hippie would wear it. LOL! But I don't intend to keep it for myself. I'm going to offer it to my long-haired niece. Here it is off my head:

And here's my actual haul of yarn that I purchased yesterday:

It's definitely not high quality yarn. I wasn't far into the skein when I came across a knot. I undid the knot and weaved the ends together with a darning needle, like I normally do when joining yarn. Then I noticed the yarn seemed to have gotten a lot thinner after the knot and it looked like it was missing a strand. It wasn't till somewhat further into the project that I found the other end of the missing strand. I decided not to unravel the project, cut out the thin part and rejoin the ends as it still looked acceptable. It's only a headband after all. And if my niece can find that section, she can put that part at the back under her hair. Unfortunately, this yarn doesn't have much stretch to speak of, so it's not great for a headband. But on a Sunday afternoon in a small town, I didn't have much choice for yarn purchases. Oh, and according to the label, 10 cents from each ball sold goes to Children's Miracle Network. 

As you can see, I got my favoured variegated yarn, and then one ball of each of the colours in the variegated one. 
The pattern I used called for a 3.75 mm crochet hook. I was actually able to find one amongst my supplies, but I found using it rather frustrating. It's 'throat' (or whatever you call it) isn't deep enough and the yarn kept separating or sliding off the hook. I do have a set of hooks somewhere (my travelling set, not my main set) that I think might contain one, but I'm not sure where that set is. The last I remember, it was in the sewing room, so maybe it's somewhere in the living room...
Yesterday, someone came and got the cookbooks I was giving away and someone else bought the vintage cream and sugar. Today I posted a vintage enamel bowl with lid and a set of brass planters. Hopefully, they'll sell as well.
I have an older dishwasher in my kitchen. It works, but not that well. I find the things on the top rack don't get very clean, probably because there is no upper water arm. So, a few years back I bought a newer dishwasher to replace it at an auction sale. Then never got around to installing it until last year I asked my ex to install it while my daughter and grandson were living with me. For me personally when I'm on my own, I would seldom use it, so it just wasn't a big deal. When my ex attempted to install the newer one, he found that I would need to upgrade both my plumbing and my wiring. It really wasn't worth it. So I sold the newer one recently and the new owner is quite happy with it. Meanwhile, I haven't use the old one since my ex tried to install the new one. Yesterday, I wanted to clean some new canning jars and lids. I always prewash new kitchen things before using them. Since they weren't actually dirty, I figured I'd just use the dishwasher to give them a hot rinse. The dishwasher was running, but it wasn't getting any water flow. I called the ex and he said that he thought he had turned the shut off valve back on and didn't know what else could be wrong. I checked the shut off valve in the basement (having fun finding it behind the dropped ceiling) and it was open. So I still don't know what's wrong with it, unless something was damaged during the attempted install last year. <sigh> Now I've got a really useless dishwasher in my kitchen. And it's probably not worth fixing. I would really rather have the cupboard space, but putting cupboards in there would probably cost as much as putting in another dishwasher. But it's not costing me anything to just sit there, so I'll deal with that some day...
That's all for now. In case you're wondering what happened to days 4 & 5 of my vacation blog posts, on Friday I really just had a lazy day and didn't do much of anything, including blog. On Sabbath (Saturday), I blogged about my thoughts on the Quverfull Movement, and that was blog enough for one day. 

2013 Vacation Report #3

One of the places I decided that I wanted to visit while I was in London was Len's Mill Store. I have to admit that when I walked in, it did not make a good first impression. It's an ugly, warehouse-type store, but once I found the fabric department, I was happy.

I visited the store at least 3 times during my stay in London. They also have an awesome yarn section. Obviously they must cater to some cross-border shoppers because the fabric can be purchased by the yard or the metre. There used to be a place called McKay's Fabric Surplus (or something like that) near my sister's place. I was disappointed to find out it was closed. Len's Mill was just a little farther away, so that made up for the loss of McKay's.

I went to visit my Aunt in Port Stanley and on the way back to London, I stopped at this now empty hospital. It's the St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital and it's a massive institution, built to house up to 5000 patients with 460 acres of land, a working farm and beautiful grounds. 

 My father worked there for over 20 years and for me it's a part of St. Thomas history. I find it a pity that it's now empty, apparently sold to developers and slated for demolition. That makes 2 hospitals connected with my personal history to meet this fate.  The other one, of course is Victoria Hospital in London, where I did a lot of my nurse's training and got my first nursing job. I drove by it for a quick look and they still haven't started the demolition, but didn't take any pictures on this visit. However, I did take some pictures on last year's visit.

 

The front of the hospital - I went through these doors many times.

Nurses' Residence - I lived here for most of my 2 years as a student. I'm not sure if they're demolishing this building or not. 

The nursing school - I spent many hours in this building as well. I don't think it's part of the demolition plans. 

Further down Memory Lane...

This is the veterans section of the cemetery where my mother's parents were buried, the South Park Cemetery.

Below is a picture of the St. Thomas Cemetery, where my father's mother is buried. I was only ever able to find her grave once, and even though I was there during the posted office hours, the office was closed, so I was unable to visit her grave this time either. However, I discovered that they have an online search function, so next time, hopefully, I will find it. I must take my aunt, as she said she has a hard time finding it as well. I'm sure she would appreciate visiting her mother's grave with me. 

 I went from there to my favourite old church, the St. Thomas Anglican church, built in 1824.

At one time I wanted to be married in this church, but since it doesn't have central heating and I was married in November, it would have been a bit chilly. Maybe if I ever remarry...

Some really old graves in the church yard cemetery, with some figures of local historical interest buried here.

Right next door to the church is this old building:

Now dubbed "adult living," it was at one time a senior's home, called Thomas Williams Home, where my mother's father lived after my grandmother died. That name is still on a sign just under the peak of the roof.

I saw lots of beautiful autumn trees, but most of them were while I was driving, so not able to take pictures. This one was right across the street from the Thomas Williams Home. As you can see, the tree right next to it was still fully green. 

That's all for this vacation. The rest of my pictures are all family pictures, which I'm not sharing on my blog.

Don't forget to comment on my Time to Pass It On post to enter the giveaway for 5 free fat quarters.