Heaven Prayer Shawl

To those of you riding Crochetville’s Crochet Express today, I would like to say, welcome to Crochet Kitten! As a special souvenir to all of today’s visitors, I would like to share a new free crochet pattern with you that you’re going to want on future travels: the Heaven Prayer Shawl.

I say “pattern,” but it’s really more of a recipe. The concept behind this shawl is to crochet two rows a day for 30 days and to let the heavens decide what color and stitch to use. Some days will be cloudy and angry, and others will be light and happy. Each day will bring something different, but in the end you will still have something beautiful to show for it. Life is like that, isn’t it? It’s only when we look back that we realize it was truly a beautiful life. That’s why I decided this concept would be perfect for a prayer shawl.

When you make this for a loved one who is going through a rough time, you can include this poem with it:

Each day I prayed for you is in this shawl,
And Heaven chose the pattern of it all.

The shape of the shawl was inspired by the Andean ruana. When I’m traveling on a train or plane, I tend to always be cold. My options are typically to wear a big coat or bring a blanket, but both are bulky and take up space in my precious carry-on. The Heaven Prayer shawl is perfect for both travel and comfort because it can be hung over the shoulders like a blanket, thrown over the shoulder like a scarf, or belted at the waist like a vest.

Basic Directions

The shawl is worked as two long, separate rectangles that are then sewn together. Each day for 30 days you will crochet two rows: one row on each rectangle. The color and stitch pattern for each row will be decided by what the sky looks like that day.

First Row

Don’t forget: you are making two rectangles that are worked separately. You will work one row of each rectangle each day. The two separate rectangles will be sewn together later.

Starting on a dry day: Ch 169 in the color representing that day’s cloudiness.

Row 1. Hdc in third ch from hook (first 2 ch count as hdc) and ea rem ch across. 168 hdc.

Starting on a rainy day: Ch 199 in the color representing that day’s cloudiness.

Row 1. 2 dc in fourth ch from hook (first 3 dc count as dc), skip next 2 ch, sc in next ch, *skip next 2 ch, 4 dc in next ch, skip next 2 ch, sc in next ch; rep from * across. 33 shells.

Starting on a snowy day: Ch 169 in the color representing that day’s cloudiness.

Row 1. Sc in second ch from hook, dc5tog in next ch, *sc in ea of next 2 ch, dc5tog in next ch; rep from * across. Sc in last ch. 112 sc and 56 dc5tog.

Remaining Rows

Change colors according to each day’s cloudiness.

Dry Day Row. Ch 2 (counts as hdc); turn. Hdc in blo of ea st across. 168 hdc.

Rainy Day Row. Ch 3 (counts as dc); turn. 2 dc in first st, skip next 2 st, *sc in the space before the next st, skip next 2 st, 4 dc in next st, skip next 2 st; rep from * across. Sc in last st. 33 shells.

Snowy Day Row. Ch 1; turn. Sc in first st, dc5tog in next st, *sc in ea of next 2 st, dc5tog in next st; rep from * across. Sc in last st. 112 sc and 56 dc5tog.

Assembly

Sew rectangles together along the purple line in the diagram.

Border

Join any color with sl st in back of neck.

Rnd 1. Ch 1, sc evenly around entire perimeter of shawl, working 3 sc in each corner (there are 6 corners total). Join with sl st in first sc.

Round 2 utilizes what Marcy Smith calls “the fine art of fudging.” Don’t worry if you don’t have the exact right amount of stitches in Rnd 1 to make Rnd 2 work perfectly. Since this is a concept shawl, there is no way for me to say exactly how many stitches you should have for Rnd 1 because it will vary based on the sky conditions the last 30 days. When you work Rnd 2, you may have to “fudge” the number of single crochets skipped to make all the stitches fit, and that’s okay! Trust that no one will notice.

Rnd 2. Ch 1, sc in same sc as joining, ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc, (dc2tog, ch 3, dc2tog) in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc, *sc in next sc, ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc, (dc2tog, ch 3, dc2tog) in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc; rep from * across to next corner. **(Sc, ch 3, sc) in corner. Ch 3, skip next 2 sc, (dc2tog, ch 3, dc2tog) in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc, *sc in next sc, ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc, (dc2tog, ch 3, dc2tog) in next sc, ch 3, skip next 2 sc; rep from * across to next corner, then rep from ** around. Join with sl st in first sc.

Rnd 3. (Sl st, ch 1, sc, ch 3, sc) in first ch-3 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-3 sp, (dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-3 sp, *(sc, ch 3, sc) in next ch-3 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-3 sp, (dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-3 sp; rep from * around. Join with sl st in first sc.

Rnd 4. (Sl st, ch 3, 2 dc) in first ch-3 sp, skip next ch-3 sp, (dc3tog, ch 1, picot, ch 1, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, ch 1, picot, ch 1, (dc3tog, ch 1, picot, ch 1, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, skip next ch-3 sp, *3 dc in next ch-3 sp, (dc3tog, ch 1, picot, ch 1, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, ch 1, picot, ch 1, (dc3tog, ch 1, picot, ch 1, dc3tog) in next ch-3 sp, skip next ch-3 sp; rep from * around. Join with sl st in top of beg ch-3.

Finish off. Weave in all ends.

Abbreviations

• blo (back loops only)
• ch (chain)
• dc (double crochet)
• ea (each)
• hdc (half-double crochet)
• mm (millimeter)
• rem (remaining)
• rep (repeat)
• rnd (round)
• sc (single crochet)
• sl st (slip stitch)
• st (stitch)
• tog (together)