Prayer Shawls & Patches – Sycamore Cove Knitting

Looking for the Perfect Travel Project to Knit?

March 4, 2025March 4, 2025Cynthia Coe

The Perfect Travel Companion: A Shawl Knitting Project

Planning a long trip and wondering what knitting project to take along? A simple shawl is the perfect choice!

Why a shawl project? Because it’s stress-free, portable, and endlessly adaptable. No need to memorize a complicated pattern or keep track of stitch counts—just cast on and knit. You can use your favorite yarn and continue until you run out or until your shawl reaches the perfect size. It’s an easy, meditative project that keeps your hands busy while you relax and enjoy the journey.

Best of all, your finished shawl might come in handy on the flight home, keeping you cozy in a chilly airplane cabin. Another bonus? If you stop by a local yarn shop and find some “souvenir yarn,” you can start a new project right away! Just remember to pack a pair of knitting needles or pick up a pair that suits your new yarn.

A travel shawl project is all about simplicity, creativity, and making memories—one stitch at a time. Happy knitting and safe travels!

(And to answer the question, “are knitting needles allowed on airplanes?” Absolutely, Yes! I’ve never had a problem. You may be asked to put them up for take-off and landing, but that’s only reasonable and no big deal.)

Here’s my simple go-to shawl pattern:

Simple Travel Shawl Knitting Pattern

This easy-to-knit shawl is perfect for travel—no complicated pattern to memorize, just relaxing, meditative knitting. Use any yarn you love and knit until you reach your desired size or run out of yarn.

Materials:

Any weight yarn (choose your favorite!)
A pair of knitting needles suitable for your yarn (circular needles recommended for larger shawls)
Scissors
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Instructions:

Cast on: 7 stitches.

Set-up: Knit 2 rows.

Increase pattern:

Right Side (RS): Knit 1, increase 1(KFB or your preferred increase). Knit to the next to the last stitch, decrease 1, knit the last stitch.
Wrong Side (WS): Knit to the next to the last stitch, increase 1, knit the last stitch

Repeat these two rows until your shawl is the desired size or you run out of yarn.

Customize Your Shawl

You can work the entire shawl in garter stitch (knit every row) for a squishy, textured fabric, or in stockinette stitch (knit RS, purl WS) for a smooth look. Want something unique? Feel free to mix and match any of your favorite memorized stitch patterns to create a one-of-a-kind piece!

Bind off loosely and weave in ends.

Optional: Block your shawl for a more polished finish.

Now you have a cozy, handmade piece—perfect to wear on the journey home!

Happy Travels! Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Be sure to check out my newly published A Prayer Shawl Handbook: Inspiration and Resources for Your Prayer Shawl Ministry, now available in paperback and e-book editions and included in Kindle Unlimited.

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Knitting for Daily Delight: The Joy of a Daily Shawl Practice

October 26, 2023Cynthia Coe

We all know that knitting can be a relaxing and enjoyable hobby. It’s not just about creating beautiful garments for others; you can also knit something special for yourself. Imagine the joy of making a shawl just for you, without any specific spiritual practice in mind. Self-care and taking a little time for yourself are essential for a happy life. With a daily shawl practice, you can weave a touch of delight into your daily routine.

The Daily Shawl Ritual

This practice is all about having fun and adding a daily dose of creativity to your life. You can decide to set aside some time each day to knit a few rows or a specific pattern repetition. It’s a simple way to make time for yourself and celebrate your love for knitting.

You might want a little structure for this daily knitting practice. In recent years, many knitters have embraced personal knitting challenges, like “temperature blankets” that represent each day’s temperature with a unique color. Others have created blankets that track train delays, their daily moods, or noteworthy events. These creative projects become a delightful daily ritual, a moment to reflect on different aspects of life.

Feel free to choose colors based on your mood, the season, or even random picks. You can switch things up and create a pattern that’s uniquely yours, without any strict rules.

Creating a Comfortable Space

As a dedicated knitter, you can choose to create a cozy knitting nook that makes you feel happy and relaxed. Maybe you have a favorite chair or a spot with a great view. You can add some scented candles, colorful decorations, or anything that brings you joy. It’s your personal knitting paradise!

As you look up from your knitting, you’ll be reminded of the joy and creativity that knitting brings into your life. It’s a way to stay focused on enjoying your knitting time, instead of worrying about everyday chores.

The Real Joy

The real joy here is the daily act of knitting, not just the end product. It’s about embracing a fun and lighthearted daily ritual that brings joy. You’ll find yourself looking forward to this special knitting time, and it can even become a delightful part of your daily routine.

Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, interrelated stories about knitters and those for whom they knit and love. The sequel to this book, The Knitting Guild of All Saints, has been released! Available in paperback and on Kindle, included in Kindle Unlimited.

Be sure to follow me for an upcoming announcement of a new book for makers of Prayer Shawls!

Knit A Prayer Shawl For Yourself – Take Care of Your Own Soul

February 28, 2023March 2, 2023Cynthia Coe

A couple weeks ago, while taking a class at a local yarn shop, I spotted some blush pink, wool yarn with tiny black flecks spun into it. The yarn spoke to me – the soft pink reminded me of early springtime here in Southern Appalachia, with the soft pinks of cherry trees soon making their appearance. The black flecks reminded me of the black ashes I would soon have traced in the shape of a cross on my forehead for Ash Wednesday.

After hearing a call to personal growth during the Ash Wednesday service last week, I decided to make a prayer shawl just for me with this pink and black flecked yarn. I had made numerous prayer shawls for others this past year, but I reminded myself that my soul needed attention, too. Those of us active in our churches tend to find ourselves very busy ministering to other people. We serve as greeters and lectors, pack up Christmas gifts for the homeless, attend committee meetings and generally lend a listening ear or a warm hug to those in need in our communities. Lent is a time not to forget all those tasks, but to remember that you need to work on yourself, too.

My personal prayer shawl, like those I make for others, uses a simple pattern I don’t have to think about. I’m using a triple moss stitch – 3 knits, 3 purls, repeat – so that I can both zone out of day-to-day life but still stay alert enough to think and focus on my spiritual issues. We all need a fairly simple pattern for our lives, I think. We need structure and a pattern that doesn’t overwhelm us, one that keeps us from veering into chaos. But we need to keep ourselves alert and at least a little challenged as well.

This Lent, as I sit quietly knitting my pale pink prayer shawl, speckled with the black ashes of Lent, I think about how far I’ve come since becoming widowed 2 years ago. I also think about the challenges and personal growth I still need to work on. Like the progress on my personal prayer shawl, I’ve made much progress, and I’m developing into a recognizable shape. But I’ve still got a good bit of work in front of me. With God’s help, each day this Lenten season, I’ll spend a few minutes each day in quiet knitting and prayer. I’ll work on the fabric of my life, watching it grow and stretch into something complete and whole, one stitch at a time.

With Blessings for a Holy Lent, Cindy

Introducing My New Novel: The Knitting Guild of All Saints

December 7, 2022Cynthia Coe

We are all in one big knitting guild. That is the message of my newest novel, The Knitting Guild of All Saints. Whether you knit well or not, knit a lot or only sporadically, you are part of a community of knitters that all share something in common and are woven together by the practice of knitting.

In my first book in this series, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, we see community formed around the ministry of knitting and gifting prayer shawls. These prayer shawls are made with love, knitted or crocheted to show someone that a community of believers cares about them, prays about them, and surrounds them in love like a big warm blanket. In this novel, unlikely friendships form, and romances are sparked. People both within and on the margins of the fictional All Saints Church are enfolded in the love and prayers of this community of faith.

In The Knitting Guild of All Saints, the second novel in this series, the community expands far beyond the fictional Episcopal church at the heart of the action. The “Rogue Knitting Guild” formed in the first book takes off as a ministry all its own, with a surprising and highly unlikely new leader. New prayer shawl guilds are formed in churches far way and even poolside in Florida. Familiar characters from Book One find themselves in unlikely new situations. And, of course, an unlikely romance begins between two new characters.

I hope you enjoy my new novel. I try hard to keep the plot going and the characters interesting and even humorous at times. I hope you join my characters in their new journeys, walking in their shoes for just a bit and seeing the world from their perspectives. Isn’t that what reading is all about?

Many blessings! Cindy

The Story Behind Every Piece Of Knitting

September 18, 2019Cynthia Coe

As I cleaned out a closet today, I found the very first baby blanket I knitted for my son. It’s a small, lacey, baby blue blanket blessed by one of my favorite priests and taken all the way to the Arctic Circle when we adopted our youngest child. It was the first “prayer shawl” I ever made.

Pulling that blanket out of the closet, I noticed a couple of crooked seams and a section of the blanket that badly needed blocking. But that didn’t matter; it was the story behind that baby blue blanket that mattered more than anything.

As soon as I had that baby blanket in my hands, the whole story of becoming my youngest son’s mother came back to me: the waiting, the paperwork, the trips to the homeland security office in Nashville to get his citizenship lined up, the cold trip to the Arctic in the middle of winter. I could smell the diesel fuel during a long flight delay in Paris. I could see the faces of the doctors, drivers, and adoption agency staff who shepherded us along the way – all from taking one glance at that baby blanket I had knitted.

Don’t we all have stories woven within almost all of our knitting projects? We remember that Harry Potter scarf knitted for a son when he was in the second grade. That confetti-sparkled hat knitted for a daughter when she was a pre-teen. That hat your husband wanted for his camping trip last fall.

As I began my book, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, I realized that we all have rich, often poignant stories behind our knitting projects. When we give our knitting projects as a gift to someone else, it becomes part of their story, too.

What’s on your needles now, and what’s the story you’ll remember months or years from now? I hope your stories will be tales of overcoming the stress and challenges of daily life, woven with the joy you get from knitting.

Blessings, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

Show Your Knitting Love With A Prayer Patch

August 3, 2019Cynthia Coe

Want to show someone some love through your knitting, but you don’t have time to knit an entire blanket or sweater? Try giving your loved one a “prayer patch.”

A Prayer Patch is a small piece of knitting you give someone to simply show you care about them. Much like a full-blown Prayer Shawl, a Prayer Patch might be given to someone facing surgery, someone grieving a family member, or someone just going through a tough time. You could even give a Prayer Patch to someone simply to let them know you’re thinking about them.

To make a Prayer Patch, you can use yarn leftover from a favorite project. You might even use a favorite stitch or pattern that’s so stuck in your head you can make it without thinking. You might even attach a small charm to your Prayer Patch, such as an angel, cross, or other symbol meaningful to your spiritual life. (I’ve found it’s easiest to leave a long tail when you cast off, then you have something ready-made for attaching the charm.)

Some churches, I hear, offer Prayer Patches to newcomers or those attending services who need a small token of their faith community’s love and care for them. (Psssst…in my new book, The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a newcomer receives a Prayer Patch. Her life is changed forever, and she learns to knit – not necessarily in that order.)

What do you do with a Prayer Patch? You could tuck it into a purse or backpack. You could use it on your desk as a coaster or under your phone while it charges. It’s so small, you could keep it almost anywhere to remind you that someone loves you. Churches or other faith communities might send it along with a flower delivery or include it with a get-well card. It could even be a miniature version of a Prayer Shawl for the recipient to keep with them on-the-go.

And for the knitter herself, making a Prayer Patch gives you space and time to be quiet, collect your thoughts, and perhaps remember a loved one in prayer. It’s an easy project, perfect for taking a half hour or so to simply and silently send your hopes and prayers to someone who needs them.

Here’s a favorite Prayer Patch pattern I’d like to share with you:

The “Diamond of Hope” Prayer Patch

(I used the Caron x Pantone mini-skeins and size 10 needles. You can get two prayer patches out of each of these small skeins. You could use whatever yarn you have handy with appropriate sized needles.)

Cast on 17 Stitches.

Knit one row for a nice border.

Row 1 (Right Side): (P1, K7) x 2, P1

Row 2 (Wrong Side): K2, P5, K3, P5, K2

Row 3: K1, P2, K3, P2, K1, P2, K3, P2, K1

Row 4: P2, K2, P1, K2, P3, K2, P1, K2, P2

Row 5: K3, P3, K5, P3, K3

Row 6: P4, K1, P7, K1, P4

Row 7: Repeat Row 5

Row 8: Repeat Row 4

Row 9: Repeat Row 3

Row 10: Repeat Row 2

Repeat Rows 1-10, then Repeat Row 1 once more

Knit one row for a border.

Bind off.

Leave a long tail for tying on a symbolic charm, such as an angel, cross or other sign of hope.

This is easier than it looks! Once you get the pattern in your head, you can do it in your sleep. You’re always moving out from a point or in towards a point.

The pattern makes one large diamond with 4 smaller diamonds inside it and 8 triangles around it, for a total of 12 spaces on the piece. (Twelve apostles total, with 4 writers of the Gospels, if you’re into symbolism.)

Blessings on your Prayer Patches, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a book of related short stories in which prayer shawls end up in unlikely places, friendships are made through knitting, and people in need receive unexpected gifts. Available in e-book and paperback and included in Kindle Unlimited.