Called Judithio

If I were feeling cheesy, I’d call this “knitting us together”. Knitting is catching on here. Last week, we introduced the idea of knitting a stole as a community project. Several people said no thanks, they didn’t want to put in even a stitch. I have some lovely yarn (Debbie Bliss Rialto, worsted weight, 100% merino superwash, for those who care); it feels lovely, it knits up beautifully, is firm enough not to be splitty, and smooshy enough that I think it will forgive uneven knitters. (I know, more than you needed to know about yarn). I started on a square, figuring out gauge (on #6 US needles, 30 stitches=6inches). A couple people came over to look, and ask about it-this yarn, I explain, is for a stole for the priest for common cathedral in the winter; we have a suitcase full of other yarn you can use for anything you like.

A bit later E. came, three bags full of various projects. She does baby blankets, the latest here:

And had some questions about a project she has the yarn for, has started several times, but hasn’t been able to figure out the instructions. She handed them over. It’s a gorgeous project, a knitted Aran bedspread, intended to be 64″x68″ finished. The pattern for the sections (good news: it’s knit in strips and then joined; bad news: there are 5 strips) is charted, not written out. So I had said I could help her with it, write it out. She explained she was late because she had unexpectedly had a meeting at her church to talk about ministry to military and their families; she has a son in service. We went on to talk about the stole, measurements, etc. At the end of the day, she asked if she could take some of the stole wool home to work on. Sure, I said.

As we cleaned up, there was some concern: did E. understand that that wool was for this project, not to absorb into her own projects? Have I been had? (I wonder, as I think about translating 1/3 page of knitting chart into written instructions). But, wool is replaceable, and we’d talked about it as for the stole squares. I went back to the apartment and labored on the pattern, deciding how to lay it out (I’ll spare the technical stuff), double-checking that I was accurate. I got about 2 rows done and turned in, a bit discouraged about it all.

Next day-rushing off to the ecclesia office for a meeting I’d forgotten about, I met E. coming into the Arlington St. station as I was coming out of it. Pleased recognition, and she pulled out of her bag six different blocks for the stole. Some are square, some rectangles; that’s what I’d hoped for, that we’d have some variation. I showed them off at the end of the meeting; everyone is pleased and agrees we’re creating something beautiful and which will be used.

So last night, I sat down and got back to work on that pattern. E. had said she thought she could do most of it; there was one section she didn’t understand and would particularly like help with. So I tackled that one. I couldn’t make it work, either, just copying the chart; the stitch numbers didn’t add up. I tried knitting it, and got the same problem. Perhaps it’s an error in the pattern? Such things happen. So back to paper and pencil and knitting trials, and I think I’ve got it:

So I now have 1/2 of another strip for the stole, a pattern puzzle solved, the directions written out (clearly, I hope). And E. and I will meet after common cathedral to work on it some more. Now I’m going to go post this, and email her the pattern. Then I might just go back to touristing; it’s a good day.

We are sitting in a Dunkin Donuts, a couple doors down from St. Paul’s Cathedral. St. Paul’s has been doing lunch for over 20 years every Monday, holidays and all. If it’s Monday, there is lunch at St. Paul’s, done by a different parish in the diocese every week. Ecclesia does pastoral care during lunch.

So I have been a couple times. My feeling to date: I can do ok (usually) with one person, maybe two, but not with a table full. I’ve struck out every time. Today–well, ok, there were only two at the table–but I went over because Henry waved at me (we’d talked yesterday before common cathedral). We started talking, and then Philip joined in. And we had more and better conversation. Next week, a bigger table.

After lunch, a simple communion and healing service with discussion of next Sunday’s gospel. I’m going to preach next week at common cathedral, so I need all the help I can get. Next week’s gospel is You cannot serve two masters, don’t consider tomorrow, consider the lilies of the field, seek first the kingdom of God. I’m beginning to think the homeless don’t think this is as hard a text as I am afraid it will be for them. (More on that later).

Then–have I seen Windsor Button? It’s around the corner, and although it specializes in buttons, there is lots and lots of yarn. No one (least of all me) should be surprised that I come away with a little more yarn. I choose to leave “a little” undefined. But what I did not expect is that both Steve (the Rev, above) and Jessica are hot to knit. Jessica, the artist-in-residence for common art, has knit before, but not on double points. If I’d been thinking, maybe a flat piece to sew up the back would’ve been easier for leg warmers, but she chose gorgeous bright color and is doing fine, despite the very slippery metal double points. Steve has not knit before, so we spend a bit more time in search-the-error-and-rescue work, but he was in the rhythm of it by the time we quit, getting even tension and moving along despite what I can only call a chopsticks needle hold (not really well represented in this picture, but I’ll get another up sometime). There are no knitting police, I remind myself and him; if it works, it’s an ok way to do it.

So: I didn’t expect to succeed at pastoral work at lunch with a table. I didn’t expect “no thought for tomorrow” to be acceptable to this congregation. And I really, really didn’t expect to be teaching knitting.