Knitting Into Mystery - Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster

Knitting Into The Mystery

Darlis Myer receives a prayer shawl
from Janet Lind.

A group of women in the Women's Leadership group at Hartford Seminary began knitting "healing shawls" for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer and other illnesses. Others began knitting shawls for new mothers and men who are ill. People all across the country have been drawn to this work and are participating in their own local groups.

CMCL knitters began meeting monthly in 2004 to prepare and bless prayer shawls for people in transition and crisis times. For us this builds on a familiar Mennonite tradition of women and men knitting, crocheting, rolling bandages and making comforters as a way to express care and pray for another.

You'll see people knitting in CMCL meetings and in worship. Rather than seeing this as a distraction, we see it as a contemplative act that often results in a compassionate gift to someone in crisis or transition. The knitters bring a listening presence as their needles fly along through the yarn.

Web Resource

The work of Janet Bristow and Victoria Galo.

Knitting Into the Mystery by Susan Jorgansen and Susan Izzard

Knitting into Mystery

This ministry began with a group of women who participated in the Women's Leadership at Hartford Seminary. They began knitting ``healing shawls'' for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer and other illnesses. Others began knitting shawls for new mothers and men who are ill.

It builds on an old tradition of women and men knitting, crocheting, rolling bandages, making comfortersçfinding ways to express care and pray for another.

SIMPLE DIRECTIONS

YARN: Use three skeins of ``Lion BrandHomespun'' found at AC Moore, Target, Jo-An Fabrics, Walmart, etc. This is often chosen because of the texture, the colors and the feel of the yarn. It's 90% acrylic so it's washable.

NEEDLES: Use size 11 (cast on 63 stitches) or 13 (cast on 57 stitches.)

PATTERN: Knit 3, Purl 3 to the end of the row. Beginners can choose to simply use the basic stitch without the purl. (Before you begin your 3 ^rd skein, set aside a few yards of yarn for making the fringe for both ends of your shawl.)

PRAYER for beginning your workç

Creator God, I ask a blessing from all who have come before me, whose hands have been instruments of creation and beauty; who have picked up humble tools and homespun wool in order to provide cover and warmth for themselves and those they loved; who have felt, as I will feel, the yarn in their fingers; who have seen, as I will see, the growth of the fabric; who have heard, as I will hear, the click of the needles.

Bless this yarn and these needles. May this shawl be a sign of your healing presence: may it warm those who are weary, surround those who suffer and encircle those who are in pain. May your gentle touch reach out to heal in the light of Christ. Amen.