Thankful knitting

I have weird ideas about relaxation. I love cooking and cleaning, preparing for a gathering whether small or large. It's a joy to be at home, with no have-to's on the immediate horizon and nothing more ambitious than a hike tomorrow with my son and his birthday next week.  A toss of the compost pile, a few loads of laundry so everyone sleeps on clean sheets, and life is good.

Joy.

I cooked most of last evening - a cheesecake and brownie pie, sweet potato crumble and frozen fruit salad, plus brining the turkey. This morning was roasting and mashing time. The Knitternall clan sat down for lunch around 1, sharing thanks and enjoying this quiet holiday together.

Dishes cleaned, I pulled out an assortment of oddball yarns in creams, grays, and blacks. Now I'm knitting a prayer shawl, my own Thanksgiving for all the blessings God has given us. 

The Comfort Shawl is aptly named.  Knit one, yarn over, knit across to center marker; yarn over before and after, knit across to end of row, yarn over, knit one. The shawl grows peacefully across the needles, flowing onto my lap, inviting caresses of prayer and reflection. Someday it'll wrap the shoulders of someone who needs a hug, and I'll send one their way even if I'm not with them.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

The Sox Shawl

I admit that miles of repeats and stockinette bore me. Then my overachiever nature kicks in and I obsessively knit until the project that is boring me is completed. When I started this shawl, I knew I wanted to knit it for any mom whose child is in the ICU at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. (The nurses present shawls where they see a need.) But the mitered squares lost their appeal after just three were completed. So I crocheted for a while. When that wasn't fun anymore, I tried stockinette. And so on. Miraculously, the shawl turned out to be quite nice and has drawn oohs and aahs from non-knitters who have seen me compulsively knitting on it for the past week or so.

So here's my latest pattern:

The Sox Shawl!
A knit and crochet pattern

Note: gauge, stitch count, etc. are highly flexible in this pattern.

Finished Size: 60" wide at widest points; 30" deep from neck to middle point.

6 skeins Bernat Sox, Hot Tamale (40713) (any similar weight sock yarn can be substituted)

Size 8 (5mm) straight needles

F5 (3.75mm) crochet hook

Section 1

Knit 3 mitered squares in stockinette as follows.

Knit and decrease on the right side.

Purl across on the wrong side.

Cast on 70 stitches. Knit 35, place market, knit 35.

WS: Purl across.

RS: Knit to 2 stitches before marker. K2tog. Slip marker. K2tog. Knit across to end of row.

Continue in pattern until 4 stitches remain.

K2tog. K2tog.

Last row, K2tog and fasten off.

Join three mitered squares with single crochet. The center square will become a diamond, with squares to the right and left. The single crochet chain creates a ridge between the squares.

Section 2
Beginning with a slipknot and the WS of the mitered squares and using an F5 crochet hook, work single crochet pattern along bases of three squares. As you get to one of the points created by the mitered squares, work three single crochets in one stitch to enhance the corner. Work back and forth for approximately 5 inches. Fasten off. Note: starting with the WS helps correct the curling nature of the stockinette.

Section 3
With WS facing you and using size 8 needles, pick up stitches along the side section of the shawl, from the edge to the first point. On my shawl, this was 60 stitches. Picking up stitches on the WS creates a nice ridge between the crocheted section and the knitted stockinette section that follows.

In this section, with the RS facing, you will knit straight on the right edge of the shawl and add a stitch on every knit row on the left edge, creating an angle that follows the angle of the point and which will be grafted to the next section later on.

RS: Knit across to last stitch; knit front and back to increase 1.

WS: Purl across.

Continue in pattern for 32 rows. Bind off.

Sections 4 & 5
With WS facing, pick up stitches along base of section 4 (see schematic) – Section 4 section is located directly to the left of Section 3; Section 5 is located directly to the left of Section 4. Sections 4 and 5 are the largest segments of the shawl.

In this section, with the RS facing, you will add a stitch at the beginning and end of every knit row.

RS: Knit front and back to increase 1; knit across to last stitch, knit front and back to increase 1.

WS: Purl across.

Continue in pattern for 32 rows. Bind off.

Repeat for Section 5.

Section 6

With WS facing, pick up stitches along the left side section of the shawl.

In this section, with the RS facing, you will add a stitch on every knit row at the beginning, then knit across to the edge.

RS: Knit front and back in first stitch, knit across.

WS: Purl across.

Continue in pattern for 32 rows. Bind off.

Single crochet to join the edges between Sections 3 & 4, 4&5, and 5&6, creating a raised ridge in each section.

Section 7
With the WS facing and beginning with a slipknot and using an F5 crochet hook, work single crochet pattern along bases of Sections 3-6. As you get to one of the points, work three single crochets in one stitch to enhance the corner. Work back and forth for approximately 1 inch. Fasten off. Note: starting with the WS helps correct the curling nature of the stockinette.

Finishing

Single crochet at least one row around the entire shawl to help any curled edges lie down. I single crocheted two rows all the way around. Fasten off.

SCHEMATIC

Section 1: Blue
Section 2: Yellow
Sections 3-6: Green
Section 7: Purple

The long straight lines indicate the general angles of the shawl. Note that this schematic is NOT an accurate reflection of the shawl's proportions.

The winter of our discontent

Spring just can't come soon enough. I'm likely placing way too much hope that spring will bring change for the better. When I fret, I knit prayer shawls. I just finished one in record time that has prayers for so many people woven into every stitch. Sharing those prayers in such a public forum seems somehow intrusive and self-serving, so suffice to say that a winter's worth of suffering just HAS to end.

The Comfort Shawl pattern is one of my favorites for combining yarns and varying the size. You can find the pattern here: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/shawls-shrugs/comfort-shawl.htm. I crocheted a ruffle along the edge for a bit of whimsy and am quite pleased with how it turned out. The mix of yarns - a thick fuzzy merino, some novelty yarn, and a heathered wool work well together. Now I'm thinking about using some girly pinks and greens for the next shawl.

The mukluks turned out exactly according to the design, except I felted them too long. So they fit AG's feet perfectly. When they're supposed to be larger so they'll fit next fall. Darn it. AG wants them anyway because "they feel like big thick socks." I'm going to give her the rejects and cast on another pair. They really do knit up quickly, I like the way they look, AG loves how they feel, and the yarn isn't expensive (hurray Paton's Classic Merino!), so I'm not too bugged.

I have two more weeks of Preschool Phonics after Spring Break, and am both sad to see another class of preschoolers move on to Kindergarten and glad to have some free time. My freelance writing assignments are coming in steadily (I have another speech to write this week and just finished a really technical piece for an IT company), so it's good to have more hours to put into those jobs. And the Nature Center is gearing up for summer camps and the Butterfly Festival, which means exhausting times ahead.

But right now, it's cold and damp outside and Spring seems just too far away. So I'll go cast on another prayer shawl and keep a little faith in better days ahead.

Take a hike

Ten miles. That's how far the kids and I hiked this morning. We looped through Dunwoody, headed over to the Perimeter Mall area, then trekked up Ashford-Dunwoody, back through the Village, and home. Finished in just under 3 hours, with a stop at Starbucks. Urban hiking rocks!

A has to complete five ten-mile hikes plus one 20-mile hike to earn his Hiking Merit Badge. That, and Personal Fitness, are all that stand between him and his Eagle project. It was a great morning for a hike - overcast, 50's. He's already completed hikes on the Big Creek greenway at North Point and Stone Mountain Park. He opted for an urban hike this time so he'd have access to restroom facilities. Just two days since Remicade, and things are still settling down. These physical merit badges are really hard for A, but he's gamely trying to meet the requirements.

It's been a hard month on so many people around us. One lost her mother to a horrible automobile accident and weeks of hospitalization. A friend is in the Northside ICU with double pneumonia and collapsed lungs. She has three girls between the ages of 5 and 14. Two weeks on a ventilator and still counting. Another mom of three young girls between the ages of 2 and 10) visited her last Tuesday, then was admitted to the same ICU the next day with Type H Influenza (the 1918 strain that was so deadly). Flu has been roaring through our preschools and schools here in Dunwoody. She contracted one of the rarer strains that is always around, but usually affects only the very young and the very elderly. She's in critical condition, also on a ventilator.

Awful.

I worry about A being exposed to flu and pneumonia - his immune system is compromised at best, and at the moment it's completely suppressed thanks to Remicade. But we can't keep him in a bubble, so keep hoping and praying for the best.

Knitting Progress

• Finished: another prayer shawl for the knitting ministry at St. Luke's. This one, also in the Comfort Shawl pattern, combined black and cream in yarns of various textures.
• 90% complete: At the instep for Jaywalker #2! I expect to finish it in the next few days, thanks to some unexpected waiting room time at Curry Honda. The van's transmission is hinky.
• Starting: Swatching for a felted runner idea, Ice Queen.
  
• On hold (temporarily): Mukluks.
  

Not-so-Lean, Mean Knitting Machine

The Miss America pageant last night gave me some solid knitting time. I was so busy supporting Hannah Kiefer (she's a finalist! she made the swimsuit cut! she made the evening gown cut! she's THIRD RUNNER UP!!!!! I'm so proud of her!) that I finished a scarf for the homeless project, got past the instep on Jaywalker #1, and started a prayer shawl using the Comfort Shawl pattern. Whew! My hands are a bit tired, so I'll rest them today.

As of this morning, I have four scarves finished out of the six I want to contribute. I'll knit the other two before next Wednesday night so I can give them to KM at church for delivery to the homeless shelter. Then it's time for another set of blanket, booties, and cap for the ShareAtlanta project.

I've been reading Knitting in America by Melanie Falick, a random find during my last library visit. The profiles of knitters, designers and spinners are fascinating, but I am particularly drawn to the details about the places where they live and work. Knitting in a renovated Victorian in the heart of snowy, cold New England sounds dreamy. I wonder how my own "studio" would play in a profile?

"Knitternall lives in a charming unincorporated town called Dunwoody, just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Her home is an updated 1970's-era Colonial four-on-four, with a central hall that resounds with her muttered curses as she lets the dog out for the fourth time in an hour, urges her kids to get their homework finished because they have a thousand things to do and tosses pillows on the sofa to find the phone before it stops ringing.

"Her studio is a cozy sunroom just off the kitchen. A large antique cabinet and huge baskets scattered around the room hold yarn, while various handmade pottery containers organize knitting needles, crochet hooks, and other tools. When the weather is warm (because the sunroom isn't HEATED), Knitternall likes to work where she can see the woods behind her home and keep an ear open to the activities of her children ("Mom, where's my _____? CRASH. "I think it's broken!" DOG WHINING. "Mom, Scooter needs to go out." Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! "STOP! Mom, tell A to STOP!)"

Yeah. That's about right.

I've produced enough bios and profiles in my time to appreciate the deft hand of creative writing. I'm sure Ms. Falick did some judicious editing to up the charm ante. I'm enjoying the results. And dreaming.

CRASH. "Mom!"