Numbers 6:24-26 “the Lord bless you and keep you/ The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you:The Lord lift up His continuance upon you And give you peace.” In other words, May God smile at you and may His gaze upon you bring Him joy1

More than a walk in the garden with the birds singing, and the gentle breeze catching a piece of my hair. Each project that I crochet has a rythm of prayer to it. The familiar song has the words, “I come to the garden alone…”. My crochet time is gernerally speaking my quiet time.

My plans for a crochet group / club in my area fell by the wayside when covid hist. I really was thinking that last yearwould be my year to start something new. Well, more than ever before, my alone time just simply escalated. So the prayer/crochet club was going to have to be tabled for a while.

Not just getting by on a stitch in a prayer life for me has got to have purpose. Every project that I do usually has a person on the other side of it. I pray for them, and want to give the item away with the knowledge that this person was covered in prayer long before the item arrived in their hands. It gives me peace to focus on prayer through all the stitches.

Praying through the projects sometimes involves a Bible passage in mind, other times it is just Spirit led. And on those rough days for me, a read aloud book keeps me going and the prayers often interrupt the book more than phone calls.

This waffle stitch baby blanket began before I knew that or we knew that grand baby number three was on the way. I had some yarn that I struggled with what to do. When the hook matched up to the stitch and the size of the thread, this stitch was the perfect combination. Needless to say, I did not have enough yarn to finish the concept. But the blanket is looking so lovely. And a November baby needs a nice warm cozy blanket, right?

“Stitches of Prayer“ is the name of the group that I would like to start. If you crochet with prayer filled purpose, let me know. If you live in my area and want to share your love of the craft with me let me know that too. If you want to join me once a month for a focus Bible study on the concept of “prayer projects” let me know that too. The first person that I am studying is Esther.

The above projects are all recent ones. My second attempt at the apache tear pattern mobias praer shawl worked out well. The size on a mobias is so hard to get right. The next stitch is a new one for me. The Bavarian box stitch turned out lovely but I need another cake of the caron yarn to finish. I took a break from the normal items to try my hand at a basket. The idea is to find some cheaper threads and make some cement pots for planters this spring during my early garden time. We’ll see if that happens. And the latest project is a new pattern that I actually bought the day that it came out for purchase! The “Ellas Gem” by BebaBlanket is so addictive. I think there is another writing brewing on addictive crochet habit.

Prayer is vital in my life. The last week and a half, I decided to give up coffee. The first few days were rather rough. Just drinking water my headache clearly screamed for caffeine. I felt that I was so addicted to the coffee drive that I was not even sleeping at night. Giving up coffee is hard for me. I actually love the taste. But I knew that my ability to function during the day was getting poor. Sleep is primary. The body must have rest. And my body had finally screamed loud enough for me to say no more coffee.

Ten days into the fasting from black liquid, I am much more clear of mind. My writing has been boosted by day time activity that I was unable to accomplish before. Wow! Sleep does matter. The only caffeine that I take in is in minor chocolate pieces, and some green tea or oolong tea. Both of these teas are considered body cleansers. And water is my new friend. (P.S. apparently coffee was not my sleep problem. I am doing some psychology study and find that “rumination anxiety” is a big problem for me. Learning scripture meditation and memorization of Psalms again is helping. But I am limiting my coffee intake yet.)

Meanwhile, I am going to put out the invitations to the stitches of prayer hopefuls. Feel free to check out my contact info or comment directly on this post.