Dee's Trinity Stitch Prayer Shawl for her dear friend, Bev

Through Ravelry I've had the opportunity, other than this blog, to share my knit and crochet designs and was thrilled when Dee e-mailed to let me know she'd finished a beautiful prayer shawl for her dear friend Bev using my Trinity Stitch Pattern, and Homespun Lion Brand yarn in Painted Desert colorway.   

It turned out beautifully!

Check out the stunning hand carved shawl pin she included

For more photos please visit Dee's blog post.  This energetic lady is also a student holding down a 4.0 GPA.
I asked Dee for permission to write about her story on Piecework Treasures and she told me...

I would be honored to have you put the story on Piecework Treasures. I spoke to Beverly on Friday night after she had received the shawl. She absolutely loves it. She also told me it was perfect timing since she starts chemo again this week. She gets chilly and is excited to have the shawl to keep her warm. Her mother and daughter were both eyeing it so I may just have to knit a few more.

  A lot of prayers were said and tears were shed. I am happy to be able to wrap her in God’s love especially during chemo when she will be ill and weak.glad I did persevere.

Dee's story is one of perseverance as she struggled with finding the right needles to suit her needs, as well as a labor of love for her dear friend who is in stage 4 cancer.

Dee's Ravelry Project Notes:

May 15, 2012: Wow! This truly was a labor of love. I tried 4 different needles, Clover Bamboo (HORRID for this project. Shaft was too short, tip too fat and the cable too stiff.) The 2nd set was a metal circular. Shaft was too short to be comfortable and the interchangeable cables kept snagging the yarn. I switched to Boye 14” straights but since I do most of my knitting in bed or the car these proved too difficult to use. The last set I purchased at Webs in Northampton, MA when I was there in March. They are Knitter’s Pride Basix. The shaft is approx 5.5” - 6” and the cable was just a bit too stiff but workable. They had 2 burrs and kept shredding the yarn. My husband actually sanded down them down to a slightly finer point to eliminate the burrs and added a semi-gloss finish. I think if I had a do over I would ask for gloss instead as they were almost too “sticky”. The re-invented needles did the trick and allowed me to complete the shawl with relative ease. For such a simple pattern it really gave me a go of it. I finished the shawl tonight. Added 10” fringe for impact. It ended up wider and longer than I actually anticipated after blocking but I think it turned out wonderfully. I wanted it big enough to use as a “throw” or a car blanket. It is so soft and fluffy. Like a big hug! I added a hand carved shawl pin as well. I hope she really loves it as much as I loved creating it for her.
I owe a huge thank you to Lisa Spivey, the designer. She provided encouragement when I was about to give up. THANK YOU LISA! :)
The shawl is for a dear friend with stage 4 cancer. I did not pray for God to cure her, only to let her live to see her only daughter graduate from college. If anyone reading this is part of a prayer chain please add Beverly. Thank you and God Bless.
May 21, 2012 - Update: Beverly received the shawl and loves it. She starts chemo again this week and gets chilled easily. I am blessed God chose to instill the love of crafts and knitting in my heart and in my hands. I wept when she described her reaction when she unwrapped it. I will be seeing her in several weeks and will give her God’s love and a warm hug in it!

I told Dee I cried as I read her project notes and that "I will pray for your dear friend and am sure she will feel ‘hugged’ and embraced by you everytime she uses her throw.  I am so glad you did not ‘give up’. You are a blessing."
'Thank you' Dee for sharing your story and may God bless your dear friend.
 ~Lisa

an easy Mother's Day gift idea ~ WordCloud Art tutorial

What do you give the person who has everything and is in the 'season of life' where they are downsizing their 'stuff'?  What about a thoughtful Word Cloud Art made specifically with your loved one in mind.

Simply having fun doodling on a piece of paper a few of my mother-in-law's sweet attributes, as I was thinking of her after a recent visit, one thing led to another and within one hour this WordCloud Art was made.

WordArt and WordClouds are so popular today and are easy to make using common programs most of us already have available on our computers.  I wanted it a little more custom than what I was able to achieve using the internet websites available.   This is a new learning curve for me and thought there might be others who would be interested in how I created this WordCloud Art using Paint and Picasa programs.

Most computers are already loaded with the program Paint.  Picasa can be downloaded free from here.  With the new updated version of Picasa it is easy to add frames now.  It is my photo-editing program I like to use.

First, I opened a new document in Paint and sized it 500 x 700 px  (that would equal 5"x7"):

Then I saved it as a JPEG file.  This is important to be able to 'edit' in Picasa.   (Do not save it as a PNG file)    It will be saved in the Picasa pictures file.  Give it the name of your choice.  Mine is named Granny's WordArt2.jpg.

Now, using Picasa, open your blank 'picture' and it's ready to be edited.  This is where the fun begins!  Open the 'Edit Text', you can choose your text color now or later.

Type your list of words as separate words giving each of them a different 'font'.  Don't worry about placing them on your 'paper' yet.

 You can see how my list is taking shape.  This was so much fun choosing fonts to match the word.

Once my list was made, I began to place each word on my paper using the easy re-sizing text tool to custom fit each word exactly where I wanted it.

This is my finished copy.  I've placed and sized the words and added a simple double border all in Picasa.  Click on the 'Print' button at the bottom.  I printed mine as an 8x10 on photo paper with high quality print properties.

and I'm done!  I'll put this in a frame and it's ready to gift.

I hope you've found this tutorial easy to follow and will try your own WordCloud Art.  And yes, Granny is all the above.  Can you tell she likes anything chocolate, sweet and purple?!
~Lisa
P.S. Another creative example added 5/4/2012:

'Make your Own' Crochet Trim ~ oh-so-easy

I like to crochet and I like to sew, but somehow it never occurred to me to combine the two until I recently made a simple apron and wanted to add a feminine touch with a lacy trim.  Not finding anything suitable in my stash, it (finally!) entered my mind that I had all the tools on hand to crochet a simple little trim and could not believe how so very easy this project was.  Within a few minutes of 'playing' with hook and thread, using a couple of simple crochet stitches, a pretty crochet trim with an almost-picot effect was made.  From start to finish this project should take less than 1 hour and would be suitable for a beginner crocheter.

Supplies:

Size 10 crochet thread

Size 9/1.4 mm hook

Stitches:

Chain (ch)

Double crochet  (dc)

Slipstitch (sl st) 

Directions:

Loosely chain (ch) 70.    This is what my apron needed and worked up to @11 1/2" long, but chain to 'size' for your project.

Beginning in 2nd ch stitch from hook, double crochet (dc) in back loop of each ch to end.  

Turn.

*Ch 4, sl st INTO (see below) the next chain* repeat to end.   

That's it!  You're almost done now.

 

Finish off to prevent it unravelling.

The completed apron: 

While making a second trim for another apron I tweaked the pattern and I think I like this a little better.  Not much difference though, as you can see below:

At this point I've chained 70, completed all my dcs (double crochets) and am adding the 'picot-like' stitches by ch4, sl st.....

UNDER each dc.  You can see better in the photo below, the sl st is made putting your crochet hook through each open space the dc made.  Much easier and faster and this stitch 'slides' a little when complete and gives the piece a more 'lacy' look.   Finish off the same.

This is ready to be attached to my project piece.

To attach it to your project piece it could be hand stitched or using your sewing machine with matching colored thread, straight stitch through the ch stitch, then another straight stitch through the dc ch stitch.  The machine stitching literally disappears leaving the filigree openings and picot-like edges free to give it a little lacy look.

It was a 'lightbulb' moment to me to combine crochet and sewing into one project and want to encourage others to 'think-outside-the-box' in ways to customize and personalize your projects.  It did not add much time to make this little trim and it's a one-of-a-kind apron now!
~Lisa