Anchor Pocket Prayer Cloth

I've been playing around with a pattern for an anchor pocket prayer cloth, and this is what I finally came up with:

This one was made on my dish cloth rake which has about a 3/8" gauge. It came out a little on the large size, so I tried it on my DA fine gauge AJAL (using only one side) and here's how it came out:

Here's a side-by-side view so you can compare the difference:

Anyway, if you'd like to make the anchor prayer cloth, you can download the pattern here. I'll also post it below in case the link doesn't work.

Anchor Pocket Prayer Cloth

Can be made on a small or fine gauge loom.

Cast on 16 stitches. I use the long tail or cable cast on.

Row 1: Purl

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Purl

Row 4: Knit

Row 5: p2, k12, p2

Row 6: Knit

Row 7: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 8: Knit

Row 9: p2, k4, p4, k4, p2

Row 10: Knit

Row 11: p2, k2, p2, k1, p2, k1, p2, k2, p2

Row 12: Knit

Row 13: p2, k1, p3, k1, p2, k1, p3, k1, p2

Row 14: Knit

Row 15: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 16: Knit

Row 17: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 18: Knit

Row 19: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 20: Knit

Row 21: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 22: Knit

Row 23: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 24: Knit

Row 25: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 26: Knit

Row 27: p2, k5, p2, k5, p2

Row 28: Knit

Row 29: p2, k3, p6, k3, p2

Row 30: Knit

Row 31: p2, k3, p6, k3, p2

Row 32: Knit

Row 33: p2, k3, p5, k3, p2

Row 34: Knit

Row 35: p2, k12, p2

Row 36: Knit

Row 37: Purl

Row 38: Knit

Row 39: Purl

Bind off and weave in ends.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. . . Hebrews 6:19

One of my favorite groups now is the Prayer Cloth Ministry group. If you're interested in making prayer cloths and sending them to the troops, join the group and get started! :)

God Bless,
Lisa

Dishcloths & Prayer Cloths

I've made some more dishcloths on my dishcloth rake -- I now have a stack of dishcloths on my kitchen counter! Gotta find homes for these babies.

GRAPES cloth -- knitting pattern from www.rainyk.com/dishcloths. I made it on the loom by changing all Ks to Ps and Ps to Ks on odd rows. (I used the e-wrap for knits).

WATERING CAN Cloth - needle knitting pattern from Melissa's Knit Dishcloth Patterns Page. I made it on the loom by changing all Ks to Ps and Ps to Ks on EVEN rows. I used the "new" way of doing the flat stitch (Isela has a video here), and I didn't like it as much as the ewrap. The cloth is a little smaller that I like, and the stitch is too tight. I like my dishcloths "floppy." LOL

So I made another Watering Can cloth -- same pattern, but I used the part of the instructions that gave it a heart on the can. I used the ewrap and like the way it came out:

I put the flat stitch cloth on top of the ewrap cloth to show the difference in size:
Good news -- Isela has Melissa's permission to chart all of her free patterns and post them on the Looming Dishcloths group. The Swan cloth is already there; others will come as Isela gets to them.

I joined the Prayer Cloth Ministry group yesterday (a Yahoo group) and I've been looming pocket sized prayer cloths. I just love this idea -- giving a person something to hold in his or her hands that reminds him that someone has been praying for him. As I'm making the cloths and praying for the recipient, I am reminded that God already knows the person who will be receiving it. He knows them by name, and He knows what they need. Amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, here are some pictures of the cloths I've made since last night. I used patterns from the group files and loomed them on my dishcloth rake.

A Christian fish - I used ewrap for Ks:

Cross (used ewrap for Ks). It's black so it can be sent to troops. They wear these cloths under their helmets or in their pockets as a reminder that God is with them and they are being prayed for.

Pink awareness cloth - can you see the ribbon? I used the ewrap again for Ks.
Another cross in blue -- this time I used the flat stitch and really like the way it came out. I did make one boo-boo. Since the purl and flat stitches are made in a similar way, I sometimes lose track of what I'm doing, so there's a purl stitch that doesn't belong.

And one more cross cloth done with flat stitch.
I've printed out Dux's directions (posted on the LoomLovers group) for making a loom, and I'm going to ask hubby and son to give it a try. I would love to make some small looms for the ladies in our knitting group so they can make dish cloths, prayer cloths and scarves. Crossing my fingers!

Well, I'm heading upstairs to put the finishing touches on dinner. I'm making a big pot of "Mystery Soup." I was inspired by a post on Crystal's blog and have been freezing leftovers to make it. I've had it simmering on the stove most of the afternoon, and it smells delicious! I just have to call hubby and ask him to pick up some crusty bread and some salad. YUM!

Thanks for reading!

Yummy Creamsicle Pie Recipe

One of my knitting group buddies shared this recipe with me last week and I thought I'd pass it along to my other knitting buddies. Enjoy!!

1 can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
1 8-0z carton Cool Whip, thawed
1 6-oz can frozen juice, thawed (orange, lemon or lime - use orange if you like creamsicles)
1 graham cracker crust

Mix together the sweetened condensed milk, Cool whip and juice. Pour into graham cracker crust and place in freezer until frozen.

That's all there is to it! Such an easy pie to make, but it tastes rich and yummy enough to serve to company. It's wonderful with a fresh cup of coffee.

Yummy!!

A Great Concert & Some Dishcloths

Okay, first I have to rave about a great concert we experienced last night. We took the boys to the first day of King's Fest (a three-day Christian concert) at Kings Dominion.

We spent the afternoon riding all the roller coasters that I used to try to coax Josh into riding with me when he (and I) were younger. Well, now he's almost 17 and LOVES anything fast (especially if it has flips and turns), and now HE is the one coaxing ME into riding with him. Being the good mother that I am , I rode every one he took me to. Kyle wouldn't ride the Grizzly or the Anaconda (even Gerard stayed off of that one), but good old mom (and I do feel old now) rode them all. I was so glad when it was finally time to make our way to the concert!

I have to admit now that I was very tempted to take my knitting into the concert, because I was convinced that I wouldn't enjoy it. I love praise and worship music, but this concert included a band that the boys love, which I thought would mean aching ears for me. The bands that played last night were BreatheDeep (we hadn't heard of them, but they were really good), Kutless, and Newsboys.

Well, my husband and I agreed that this was probably the best concert we had ever experienced. Yes, Kutless was loud. You know, I hear Josh's music coming from his room (he plays guitar and is usually singing and playing along), and I thought it was just loud, headbanging rock music. He kept telling me he was listening to Christian music, but I had my doubts. But listening to their music and hearing the message they are trying to convey to young people, I realized that this "joyful noise" truly is pleasing to God. I'm so thankful that my sons have music that touches them and fills them with the RIGHT message. There are so many negative influences in the world today; I'm thankful that a group of talented young men are using their talent to reach young people for Christ.

Josh and Kyle thought they wouldn't enjoy Newsboys, because their music really isn't their cup of tea (they say it's more "pop" music). Just one song into the concert changed their tunes in a hurry. They were fantastic! What an AWESOME performance they gave! But what really struck me was that their true aim was to glorify God and to be used by Him. At one point, the lead singer gave his testimony of how God changed his life, and he prayed with us and led people to make a commitment to accept Jesus. Wow. Then in the next few minutes, we were "rocking out" again. It was so incredibly uplifting to look around and see hundreds of people with their hands held high, giving praise to God.

So today I don't have a voice (I gave it to Newsboys), I'm completely worn out, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, but my spirit is soaring!

Okay, on to knitting. I received my dishcloth rake from Cathy. I was so impressed first of all with the quick shipping, and the quality is great. It has smooth nylon pegs and is very lightweight. The gauge is between fine and small gauge, so it's perfect for making those sweet little squares.

My first project was a butterfly dishcloth. I found the butterfly motif in my 1000 Great Knitting Motifs book and made a pattern for a dishcloth.


First I made the butterfly with all purl stitches. It shows up better this way than using the garter stitch, but I don't like it as much.

Here it is with the butterfly made with the garter stitch. It doesn't show up as well, but I just like the overall look better. I will post patterns for both cloths as soon as I get a minute to type them up.


I love stars, so I knitted this star dishcloth that I found here.

I love using patterns that have you knit all even rows because they are super easy to convert. All you have to do is change the knits to purls and purls to knits on every odd row.

For example, if the pattern says to do a garter stitch border for the first four rows (which is knit every row in needle knitting), you just change the odd rows to purl, so it would be Row 1 - purl, Row 2 - knit, Row 3 - purl, Row 4 - knit. Then an odd row that says: k3, p31, k3 would be changed to p3, k31, p3.

For patterns that don't have you knit all even rows, then you just leave the even rows alone and change all odd rows (knits to purls and purls to knits).

I haven't tried converting any patterns that have anything more complicated than simple knits and purls, but I'm sure I will. There are so many great dishcloth patterns out there. So many patterns, so little time!

Thanks for reading!