A shawl for a friend......

Last weekend I met a good friend for lunch and to see Beauty and the Beast.  Wonderful movie by the way but a bit scary for the littles I think.  Anyway as so often happens in life my friend is having a difficult time.  Marriage is not for the faint of heart is it?  It can be a very rough road for many.  Even after 30 years she is not in a safe spot.  I cried with her as she told me what is happening.  Not that all men are horrible but a pretty big percentage of them are, and sure think mainly of themselves and their own needs.  After 30 years of putting herself way down the list she finds that it may not have been worth it.  She cried, I cried and all I wanted to do was hug her forever and tell her she is not alone.  Now I know that is not practical so I did the next best thing, I came home and started a shawl for her.

I saw this pattern on Pinterest where you can find a photo of the shawl and a schematic of the motif.  I was unable to print out that portion of the pattern, so I drew it up for myself.   Keep in mind this is not my pattern, I am no designer, but I thought I would share it with you in case you wanted to make it yourself.

Each little motif is fast to make.  I am a bit of a nutter so I sewed in my ends after each row.  It helped me remember where I was if I put it down in the middle of a row.  Instead of a chain 8 for the start I did a chain 6, it worked better for me.  I also hdc into the first round instead of a sc, I am not sure why I just did.

At the top of the shawl I made these triangles to fill in the gaps so the top would be straight across.  This is my interpretation of what I thought the pattern would be.  Sorry if you follow this and I was wrong,  If you decide to make this pattern just let me know if I did not make sense with these pictures and I will help you out as much as I can.

Here is a good photo of how the motifs join together.  I did a hdc border around the entire shawl to give it a little stability.  I would have gone around again if I had enough yarn but had to settle for two rows of hdc at the top of the shawl and one row around the sides.  This really is a super easy pattern that requires little thought once you get going. 

I used Cascade Yarns Tangier yarn for the project from my stash.  A little over 2 skeins were used so approximately 550 yards of yarn.  I also used a size H hook, but any yarn and hook would work with this pattern.  The thinner the yarn the more motifs you have to make, thus the more yarn you will need.  It needs a good blocking to get those little motifs straight, so if you make it remember that you aren't doing it wrong, it just looks wonky until it is blocked.

  

I intend to drop this off on her porch tomorrow and she will have a surprise when she gets home.  I hope my friend likes it and knows that with each stitch I was sending her a little prayer for peace in her life no matter how things turn out.  Don't we all just want a bit of peace?

As for the politics of this week, well I am again stunned by the Russian involvement, all of the lies, and the bullying that went on to get the ACA overturned and Trumpcare installed.  I wrote to my representatives about the changes in Medicaid that would affect Little Buddy and got a pathetic response.  Just so you know the ACA has not been a disaster as it has been represented.  And further cuts to Medicaid and Medicare would be devastating to so many millions of people.  Little Buddy is at the top of that list.  I am not a wealthy woman, I cannot afford his therapies and specialists.  That was one of the reasons we could adopt him, the state is supposed to take care of his medically complex needs.  Read the facts about these issues before you listen to crazy news.  Thank goodness the Bill got pulled but make no mistake this is not over.  The ACA needs some fixing, that has been known for a long time.  Why not take something that is already working and change it for the better?  That makes more sense to me.  I am so puzzled why this party in charge is so against helping people.  And yes sometimes helping people by providing something for them backfires and people take advantage, but a lot more times it helps people get on their feet again or just plain survive.

As for those of you who do not live in the US, March Madness is the basketball tournament that the elite college programs play in to find the champion of them all.  The Badgers are the University of Wisconsin and that is where many of my in-laws went to school.  Little B has been provided many a Badger shirt by this part of my family.  It is fun to watch the tournament, well that is until the team you are rooting for loses.  I am talking to you Kansas Jayhawks!

Have a good week.