The Virgin Mary Shawl project - Ask and it will be given

From the Gospel - Matthew 7, 7-11

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread,

or a snake when he asks for a fish?

If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him"

When I'm in need I often ask the help of Virgin Mary, the mother of God and of all human kind.
As this time of my life is quite challenging and I need more than praying, I decided to do something else... in my parish there is a beautiful statue of Holy Mary and I decided to knit a shawl for it.

 I cannot find the statue picture, so up here there are 3 beautiful representations of Virgin Mary with Jesus by Filippo Lippi, Michelangelo Buonarroti e Raffaello Sanzio.

I don't know if doing this will make me solve my problems the way I hope or if God has other plans for me... anyway it's even just to thank theVirgin Mary for always caring for this child!

My choice fell on Frostpine, a pattern by MMario on Raverly (published on MMarioKKnits on yahoo)

 I decided to do it in a white cotton yarn, sesia Bio 5.

If you want to join me in this project you are most welcome!

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Little update.

 I could find a picture of the statue of Virgin mary... it's not the most beautiful picture in the world, but it gives an idea of the statue:

And this is my knitting:

Virgin Mary has her shawl      15 settembre 2013 


I could barely believe I've finished the Frostpine shawl... Starting in June I've been working at it just two rows at a time, I did not want to make mistakes so I preferred to go slowly....
In the beginning the difficulty was starting wit too few stitches, so I skipped directly to the point where you work with 12 stitches and it was fine for me...

I have to say that it was a patience work, but I did not find it difficult... and making it slowly it was neither to heavy to carry on... just the last 20 rows became difficult to manage. In particular row 145 was confusing as the written pattern was one way and the chart was in another way in two points....

the first kxtog on the written instruction was a k3tg and on the chart was / (=k2tog) and the last skxp on the written instructions was a sk2p while on the chart it was a \ (=skp)....

as I was scared of changing the pattern I decided for following the written instructions and making a kfb at the end of the row instead of a k2.

The other thing I did was to cast on at 151 with the long tail cast on. I took another skein and doubled the yarn to do it and when, after 9 stitches cast on I had to knit one I knitted both the yarns... I think it made it faster and the cast on was firmer that in another way.

The craft is beautiful and I have to thank the author of the pattern. I've seen many of his shawl patterns and I like almost all.

Now just a little thought for those who believe.....
I don't know if in the future will happen what I asked to the Virgin, but what I've understood from this experience is that God made me a person full of gift... hands that can do this and the mind to understand how, the patience to work on a project for a long time and the happiness to see it finished.
I took needles and wool for my first time exactly one year ago....
but most of all I've been really happy to work for Virgin Mary, each time I took the needles in my hands I could be happy even in a bad day... and this happiness grew every day for all this time and now I don't know if my troubles will solve or not, what I know is that I have back my serenity and this is the most important gift God gave me!


Last update:

What I asked is becoming real. This is the news of the day!
As I've said before... ask and it will be given!