Prayer Quilt, Part One

In two weeks, we have gone from an idea to an almost finished Prayer Quilt. I am just amazed at the RWS community! Within hours of putting yarn out in a basket in the front hall of the school, the Handwork Group received calls for more yarn -- we just couldn't keep enough balls (of the wonderful O-Wool Classic) in circulation. I thought that we could manage to get 33 squares and then last night as we sat around and counted up the squares, my jaw dropped ... 54 squares.


Students, parents, teachers, and the administrative staff all pitched in to make 6" x 6" garter stitch squares. The first graders each took turns knitting one precious square.


The sizes ranged from 5.5 inch squares to 6.5 inch squares. There is one stockinette square. Some squares have dropped stitches and yarn overs, twisted stitches and wild swings of tension. All were knit with love and reverence.

Last night we arranged and rearranged the squares trying to get the squares just right. Blocks of color or randomness? Geometrical patterns? Balanced color values? Thank goodness for the cookies, popcorn, and coffee!

Holly was our guide for the assembly and as I, the ever-uptight planner, was punching numbers into a calculator and pouring over graph paper with colored pencils, she intuitively massaged the squares into their proper places. She was brilliant!


I received my seaming assignment (V for vertical garter ridges, H for horizontal) and seamed them up this morning.


Melanie at The Yarn Lounge showed me how to execute a simple single crochet join for the assembly. It is just the right join to adjust for all the variations in sizes.


I hope to join with the other two sections tomorrow and hand the quilt off to a more accomplished crocheter for the border. I will post more pictures soon ...