A Story About a Shawl continued...

As you know from my post in April - A Story About a Shawl, and more recently in June, I was working on a shawl for my sister and an afghan for my newphew.  Well I'm happy to report that I finished them both and sent them off right before I left on vacation with blessings of healing from my girlfriend's prayer circle.

While on vacation, I called to verify that my sister received the package and I was given wonderful news, my nephew completed his treatment and is cancer free!  He will have to be monitored and go in for testing every month for the next year, but the doctors are optimistic. Children are a blessing and so resilient, I'm happy he's made it through this obstacle and pray that he never has to go through it again.  And my sister loved her shawl and the afghan and thanked me for sending them to her. I was just happy I was able to do something, even this small thing to bring a little hope and healing to my sister and her family.

Finished Sidewalk Shawl by Kimberly K. McAlindin

Finished Popcorn Granny Squares Afghan

After the success of my first shawl, I decided I wanted to try my hand at a knitted shawl and reading charts.  So I searched and searched, hoping to find a shawl that had a simple chart to follow.  Well, I can tell you, there really aren't any, at least none that I found.  The charts all looked so intimidating, but I wasn't giving up.

After much searching, I finally found one on Ravelry, that I thought would be easy to manage, called the Calais Shawl by Judy Marples.  Well here is the results:

Beginning stages of shawl

Close-up of beginning of shawl

Here it is after blocking. I used Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton
in a beautiful deep wine color

Looks slightly pinkish against my blue couch, but it is the same shawl!

A closer look!

Once I read completely through Judy's instructions and started, I completely immersed myself into the rhythm of the pattern and before long I had myself a stunning shawl!  It was much easier than I thought and I am excited about trying my hand at another shawl, now that I understand the charts better.

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th of July.  I also hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far! I know I am!

Delving Into My WIP's Goodie Bag...Again!

So summer is finally creeping up on us and well what will you be working on during the warm weather?  Me, I'm going to dive back into that seemingly bottomless WIP's bag. You may have remembered a post back in January, where I talked about delving into my WIP's goodie bag.  Well here I am again, back to that bag, trying to get some of those unfinished objects (UFO's) - finished!

I returned to working on a granny square afghan I started almost 5 years ago. It was originally started for my son, because I thought it would be something he could cherish and pass on to his children.  But after I had a friend make him a quilt out of some of his old t-shirts; the need to finish this afghan took a back seat.

But recently, I received some surprising news from my family back east, news that saddened me somewhat, but at the same time gave me a reason to finish the afghan, now more than ever.  One of my sister's children (her youngest who is 4 years old) has been diagnosed with Leukemia.  While even though I'm saddened by this news, I know that he is strong and healthy and will pull through and won't be the worse for wear afterwards - because children are so resilient.

Popcorn granny square afghan so far

So, when I heard he had to undergo an operation to prepare him for chemotherapy, I thought that the afghan would be a nice keepsake that he could have with him while he's in the hospital, something that could remind him of home and not feel like he's in a hospital.  I know it must be frightening and confusing for him and I wanted him to have something from his Auntie that would comfort him during this scary time - to let him know my son, Aiden and I are thinking of him and want him to get better.

So I'm diligently trying to get it done before I leave for vacation next month, so I can give it to him when we go home for our visit. It is made up of 36 - 5"x5" crochet granny squares (popcorn design) that I sewed together and now triming it in double-crochets in a navy blue color (perfect for a little boy).  Since he's a little guy, it will be the size of a couch throw which is probably plenty big enough to keep him wrapped in warmth while he is going through his chemotherapy.

I also, decided the pineapple shawl that was originally for my sister who lives in NY will now go to my sister in Maryland.  Ever since I received the news I knew I wanted to keep her in good spirits while she's comforting her son as he undergoes the chemotherapy treatment. Once its finished I'm having a friend take it to her prayer group and give it a healing blessing so that it will surround her with our love and blessings from 3,000 miles away.

I would like to ask all of you who reads this to keep my little nephew, his mom, and their whole family in your prayers.  Thank you.

A Story About A Shawl

I started knitting a beaded shawl early last spring for one of my sisters for her birthday (which is in August), because she mentioned to me in passing how much she loved some of the shawls she seen in the stores, but didn't want to pay the exorbitant prices for any of them.  So I searched for a nice pattern that I thought would be easy to follow, but I found reading the chart was not as easy I thought it would be. Somewhere in the very beginning stages I lost a stitch, so I set it aside thinking I would at some point get back to it and fix my mistake.  But I got so busy with other projects that I had deadlines and people waiting for them.  And I never got back around to fixing the lost stitch and well her birthday came and went and I was forced to buy a gift card instead of surprising her with a handmade shawl. Even worse, now a whole year has gone by and my sister's shawl hasn't progressed past what you see below:
 

Beaded Knit Shawl (Swallowtail Lace Shawl
by Evelyn Clark) that I  started last year

As part of my New Year's decision to try to work through my WIP's and as suggested by: stitch.tac.sew, who said on January 24th... "I would alternate for each new project you make finish an old one!" to my post of "Delving into my WIP's Goodie Bag".  I pulled it out of my WIP's bag and decided, instead of trying to fix the lost stitch and figure out how to read what I considered a complicated chart, I would frog it (pull it apart), and look for an easier pattern to follow. I don't want to give up on this design completely, because it is very beautiful and I really need to get over my anxiety of reading charts, maybe after some practice with easier chart designs, I will give it another go.

But in the meantime, I found this really great crochet pattern that I figured I could whip up in no time.

Frogged the first attempt - changed to a crochet design,
Sidewalk Shawl by Kimberly K. McAlindin

And as you can see above that it is coming along and has this really great pattern going that reminds me of a pineapple.  It's quick and easy to follow and I can't wait until I'm done and can send it off to my sister.  I'm really hoping she will like it. And this time around I will get it done before her birthday. 

I like it so much I might even make one for myself or maybe for my other sister who also, has a birthday in August.  If I'm industrious enough, I could probably pull it off, if I don't get sidetracked again.  We'll see...

On a side note:

I just finished another baby set and I had so much fun knitting it for a good friend.  I decided a sweater was too much since she needed it by May 1st and it will probably be too warm for a sweater by the time the baby is born, so I searched Lion Brand's website and came across this cutie:

The Bunny Blanket Buddy
from Lion Brand.

I paired her with another Feather and Fan Baby Bonnet, and Ballerina Booties. You can check my Sweaters page (very last picture at the bottom of page) for links to the patterns for both the bonnet and booties.