On Friday, this pattern came up in my Facebook feed, and it was exactly what I needed.
This is the Thinking of you Scarf from Heartstrings knitting patterns. As soon as I saw this pattern, I knew that it would be perfect for a friend. For this friend, this year has been a roller coaster. The biggest dip on this ride has been her grand-daughters cancer diagnosis. Not quite a year ago, a tumor was discovered on her grand-daughters leg, and it was determined that it was OsteoSarcoma. After enduring months of chemo, and a partial Leg amputation, the cancer came back in her lungs. This 13 year old girl is living her last days enjoying her favorite places, foods, and friends.
Casting on this shawl will begin the knitting journey of my first prayer shawl. For years people have asked me if I would knit a prayer shawl, and I always found reasons not to. I had other projects on the needles, I had hats to knit, I didn't like the yarn that they were using for the shawls. It has always been easy to find excuses not to knit a prayer shawl.
On Friday night I came home and cast on this shawl. I started with a beautiful navy blue yarn that I have in my stash. It just wasn't working. Something wasn't right. So I frogged it, and cast it on again. Still not right. I found another blue yarn, and tried casting it on. It still wasn't right. Something didn't feel right about the texture. It was cotton, it wasn't soft.
On Saturday morning, I went through my stash again in hopes that I would find the right yarn, and nothing was right. not the right shade, not the right texture, wouldn't have the right drape, didn't have enough yarn.
My heart ached. I want this to be perfect. I want this friend to be able to wrap herself in warmth, feel the love of others with her, and reflect on the joy of her grand-daughters life.
I think that is why it has taken me so long to knit a prayer shawl in the first place. My faith is very important to me, and to think that someone will be using this shawl for comfort means so much to me. The shawl has to provide the right texture and the right warmth.
So today I am off to the yarn store to find the perfect yarn for this shawl. I hope to spend time knitting this project in some beautiful places.
