Because Knitters are Awesome

I couldn’t resist sharing this really sweet story about the awesomeness of knitters. Knitter Susan Cottrell from London, Ontario, had been knitting a shawl in turquoise and blue lace, complete with 1,500 beads, while sitting at her husband’s bedside while he underwent a double-lung transplant.

One night she left the shawl in his hospital room and it disappeared. A search that included posting flyers around the hospital came up empty.

But one knitter from Colorado was inspired by the story and decided to knit her a replacement shawl. Katrina King recently sent the shawl to the newspaper that first reported the story and they delivered it to Cottrell, who declared the creation “beautiful.”

As for her husband, he’s now recovering at home, which is pretty beautiful, too.

Thanks for being awesome, knitters.

[Photo by Rick Madonick, via the Toronto Star.]

Next Pattern:

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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Comments

Sheriva says
November 6, 2013 at 5:57 pm
What a wonderful ending for Susan’s husband and the new shawl. GOD bless the giver, gift and recipient.
Ann Devine says
November 7, 2013 at 9:32 am
AMEN! One hopes the original shawl turns up, too. I’d vote for sending it to Ms. King in Colorado!
Debbie says
November 8, 2013 at 7:46 pm
What a beautiful story. I hope the one she was making will turn up. What a shame someone took it from a hospital at that. Blessings for all in this touching story.

Next Pattern:

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