So I’m Christian. Maybe you already knew that. If you’ve read enough of my posts then you probably do because my beliefs sort of leak out here and there. How could they not? Writers always reveal more of themselves then they intend (just read any one of the Stephen King horror stories and you’ll learn all sorts of interesting things about Stephen) and I do too. But just in case you hadn’t yet caught on I want to say: I’m Christian.

There. That’s my idea of Witnessing. I’ve never, not once in my entire life, felt the need to try and convert anyone. I figure that the Holy Spirit is whispering into everyone’s ear every moment of every day and that should be enough. You are either listening are you aren’t.

In my previous post I tried to convey just how sick and sick at heart I am of reading about one terrorist attack after another. I’m also sick of all the prevaricating, the over-analysis of meaningless details, and the attempts to “control the discussion” afterwards. I’ve read about cowardice in the face of evil but I never really seen it for myself until now. Through it all I’ve felt revulsion, not just for the evil-doers but for the ones that can’t face the hard fact that evil has been done.

I have to say I was surprised and touched and completely overwhelmed by the number of readers who posted here to say that they felt the same way. Thank-you. Actually thank-you does not seem to be a strong enough phrase. You give me strength. 

But I’ve also been advised, more than once, not to let the blog know that I’m Christian. It could be dangerous. People today persecute Christians you know. Also, I’ll lose readership if I’m too obvious about my faith.

Well, that last part is almost certainly true. I probably will loose readership over this. But I’m done being silenced. I won’t be counted among the fearful. So if it means that you won’t come and read my (hopefully) witty little posts about living life with a yarn obsession because those posts are written by a woman doing her best to follow the teachings of Christ then… bye. Hope you come back some day.

But I have to stand up and be counted. Some of you wonderful readers (Christians and non-Christians) will totally understand where I’m coming from. You are enough, more than enough, to keep me blogging.

And now that I have (probably) chased all the ones who are offended by someone being religious in front of them… here is how I’ve been coping with all the horrific crap humans have been doing to each other on this particular week:

I’ve been knitting. Of course. I’ve also been praying. Of course.

I’m knitting a wrap/shawl thingy that will come out to be an oblique triangle. Its overall shape will be about like this:

It has two sections that I’m mixing up in what I hope will be a pleasing and artfully random arrangement. There are garter stitch sections which I’m doing in the variegated colorway. Then there are the openwork, lace sections that I’m doing in the solid colorway. Want the pattern? Because this time, for this project, I’m totally ready to publish pattern notes before I’ve actually finished the knitting

(That’s because this wrap/shawl thingy has already been finished by no less than three people. Those people are not me, obviously. This pattern was born out of a series of discussions in my knitting classes. The result of those discussions was my students demanding a pattern out of me. I gave them one and they knitted it. How nice! But now I’m being asked to publish it “for reals” so it can be a free-pattern-with-purchase-of-yarn. Hmm. Well, I figure I better actually knit one before I, you know, put my name on it and send it out into the world.)

Start with a cast on of three stitches. 

Work a garter stitch section by repeating these two rows:

Row 1 (RS): K1, Kfb, K to end

Row 2 (WS): K1, K2tog, k to one st before the end, Kfb

Any time you have an even number of stitches on your needle, you can work a lace section by repeating these four rows:

Row 1: K1, Kfb, K1 *YO, K2tog* until 1 st left, k1

Row 2: K1, K2tog, K1,*YO, K2tog* until 1 st left, Kfb

Row 3: K1, Kfb, K1 *YO, K2tog* to end

Row 4: K1, K2tog, *YO, K2tog* until 1 st left, Kfb

Keep going like that, switching back and forth until your wrap is long enough to suit you. 

And that is pretty much all I gave my students. That’s what I would consider the skeleton of a pattern. When I publish it “for reals” I’ll have pictures and a stitch key and notes as how many repeats of each section I worked and in what order. But that comes later. Right now I’m in the best part of a writing a knit pattern: the knitting of it.

I’m also praying. Knitting is my go-to happy place but with all the violence, hate, and relentless evil going down I need more than just knitting. I need to pray. In fact I’ve been praying my ass off. Instead of trying to hide that, instead of trying to keep that from leaking out into this post, I’ve decided to be open about it. Because for me, this wrap/shawl thingy will forever be the knitting that I turned to on the week I felt nearly overwhelmed. This wrap/shawl thingy will (for me) always be Psalm 25.

There is more to Psalm 25 (of course). For any to whom that speaks, here is a link to all of it the ESV.  And if it doesn’t speak to you, that’s okay by me. I figure if you’re not Christian but you followed me this far into the post, then you have compassion. You have empathy. You have love. I count you as my friend. Actually I just I count on you. Period.