Do you remember when the headline on September 12th, 2001 in the Le Monde read “We Are All Americans“?

I do.

Do you remember the Parisians singing The Star Spangled Banner at Notre Dame?

I do.

As I sat in my home on Friday evening and watched the horror on the news I was heartbroken and scared and very, very angry. And I felt completely helpless. So I found this link to donate to the American Red Cross in France (which I read the next day had mobilized 300 volunteers in Paris) and then I grabbed some yarn and a hook and started making the Paris stitch.

Crafting is how I cope. What else would I be doing as I watched my screen and prayed for Paris? I stitched.

The Paris Stitch is simple but beautiful. Its elegant. There is a set up row, and then a second row that you make over and over. It gives you a reversible fabric of slanted fans. Here is how you make the Paris Stitch:

Abbreviations

ch – chain

sc – single crochet (that’s a double crochet if you follow the English convention)

dc – double crochet (that’s a treble crochet is you follow the English convention)

Ch any multiple of 3… then ch one more.

Set Up Row: In the fourth ch from the hook work: one dc, ch 2, and one sc. *Skip the next two chains. In the next ch, work: 2 dc, ch2, sc*. Repeat from * to end.

Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as a dc). In the first ch-2 space from previous row work: dc, ch 2, sc. *In the next ch-2 space from previous row work: 2 dc, ch2, sc*. Repeat from * to end.

Repeat Row 2.

So after an evening of just mindlessly making the Paris stitch, I decided to actually make something. I went into my stash for some blue, white and red yarn…

and started a pair of fingerless mitts.

I’m sharing the pattern because I just cannot let the events of November 13th 2015 pass by me unremarked. I cannot pretend that I’m not scared and hurt and deeply, terribly outraged. As I said, stitching is how I’m coping. Maybe this little pattern will help someone else cope too.

These fingerless gloves are worked flat and then seamed together leaving a hole for the thumb. They are very simple.

• Materials: I used blue, white, and red yarn in worsted weight with a Size I (5.5mm) hook
• Gauge: 14 sts = 4 inches (10 cm) in pattern unstretched. This lace is quite stretchy which is why it makes a nice mitt.
• Wrist sizes: 5, 6.5, 8 inches in diameter.

With blue, ch 19 (22, 25) loosely. 

Using stitch instructions from above, work Set Up Row. Then work Row 2 a total of five times (six rows in blue). Switch to white and work Row 2 six times. Switch to red and work Row 2 six times. Cast off.

Leave long tails and use these to seam up the mitts. The neatest results are from seaming blue sections with blue, white sections with white and so on. Leave a small gap in the red section for your thumb.

To the fallen and to the survivors, my prayers go out to you.