Making people feel loved and supported through the warmth of the shawl and the presence of prayer. Those that are in need can feel the prayers surrounding them both physically and spiritually with those hand made gifts.
Prayer Shawl – Prayers for Healing & Comfort with Every Shawl
Prayer Shawl Volunteers create special, hand-knit shawls for Parishioners in need. Each shawl is prayed over before working on the shawl and after it is finished. When completed, the shawl is given to a Parishioner experiencing a particularly difficult time and in need of prayer. Examples may be someone suffering from a serious illness or to one who has experienced a grievous loss. Prayers over the shawls ask for God’s help to renew the body as well as the spirit.
Who knits the shawls?
Volunteers knit our Prayer Shawls on their own time. We also host bi-monthly meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month from 9:30 - noon in the GLP Room located in the main building.
How do you make a shawl?
The basic pattern requires 3 skeins of any good, soft brand yarn. On size 11 or 13 needles, cast on 57 stitches (or any number of stitches divisible by 3 to give the desired width). K3, P3 continue this across the row. K3, P3 for each row. Note: You will start and end each row with K3, producing a seed stitch. Before you begin to use the third skein, cut your fringe pieces. Knit until all the yarn is used, casting off at the end. Attach your fringe pieces. Fringe it any way you want— one fringe in each stitch, in every third stitch, or not at all.
Did you know that the number three appears in Scripture over 500 times? The pattern very easily becomes a rhythm as you knit. Consider the significance of the number three: Father/Son/Holy Spirit; past/present/future; birth/life/death; mind/body/spirit; faith/hope/charity; earth/sea/sky… The list goes on. A more experienced knitter can add his or her own embellishments, cables, and other patterns.
Additional information is also available at http://www.shawlministry.com.
Interested in helping?
To learn more or sign up to volunteer, contact our Front Office at 327-5165 or email us at FrontDesk@stcatherinesiena.org.
We also have a group of volunteers that knit baby hats, blankets, wash clothes, winter caps for children and adults. If you would like to give time from home to helping make these items please reach out to the office as well. Thank you for considering and may God Bless you.