On May 5th I cast this shawl on. In the true spirit of what a prayer shawl should be this embodies thoughts of healing, thoughts of protection, thoughts of peace, and hope. Hope for awareness, and hope for change.

May 5th is a National Day of Awareness about Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW, MMIWG, MMIWG2S). I will include some brief statistics here for context. Indigenous women are two and a half times more likely to experience violence in their lifetimes than any other demographic in America. One in three Indigenous women will be raped, four in five will be the victims of violent crimes, and the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women is murder. It is estimated a staggering 84-88% of these crimes are perpetuated by Non-Indigenous offenders. The numbers are too great to ignore, yet very little, if anything, is ever done to bring justice and an end to these horrible crimes. These women/girls and their relatives deserves so much more.

This shawl is a free pattern, for anyone who needs the healing moments found in knitting or wants to share that energy with a loved one as a gift. My request is, if you are financially able that you pay it forward by making a donation to any of these organizations:

Sovereign bodies
NIWRC
Native wellness

This is knit with a combination of 2 yarns, a suri alpaca brush and a fingering weight merino single in the same color. You can change it up and use one yarn, or two different colors. I chose the most vibrant red I could find.

MATERIALS
US 6 32” circular needles
191 yards of Fingering weight yarn - Qing Fiber, Melted Baby Suri, Firaja (Yarn A in pattern)
191 yards of Fingering weight yarn - Qing Fibre, Merino Singles, Firaja (Yarn B in pattern)

MEASUREMENTS
48” top wingspan, 20” at longest center point

GAUGE
14 stitches and 34 rows = 4” in textured eyelet pattern on US 6 needles