It’s only been within the last 12 months that I have truly begun to make meaningful friendships with Christian women locally, in real life. It has truly revolutionized my life. We have a need for friendships, women we can hug (sorry bloggers) and call or text when life gets sticky. You need that friend that will bring food, pick up your kids or hang out in your living room with your kids so you can have your first shower in 3 days. The problem is, in many places, especially larger cities with large churches, this isn’t always easy to find. We attend a large church & have morning Bible studies, so I frequently have to leave early to pick up my half-day kindergarteners.

For me, the change came when a group of divinely inspired ladies started a Bunco group. Sometimes we as women need an excuse, a reason, and more importantly a starting objective or common goal to give us reason to create friendships. I think TerryAnn understands this well. Rather than a traditional Bible study group, she proposes a knit or crochet (or both) group which also studies the Bible. Much like Bunco was for my group, needlework is the starting place for the Bible study. The accompanying discussion, prayer and sharing of life is what will weave bonds for life.

Now on to the knitty gritty of what you’ll find in the PDF Knit and Crochet Bible Study. For the purchase price of $27, you gain reprint rights for each member of your group. If you’ve priced study books lately, you’ll find this a real steal. Some studies are book and workbook combinations, with each member needing to purchase their own. I love that TerryAnn provides this at a reasonable price, especially considering how much work she’s put into it. With 6 members, it’s less than $5 each. Yet it’s also feasible for a single person (group leader or small church) to afford. The PDF file is a whopping 40 pages total. There are 10 lessons total, perfect for a weekly summer Bible study.

My favorite things about this study:

• Each lesson begins with scriptures printed at the top of the page in 4 different translations.
• While lesson focuses on Proverbs 31, study includes cross-references to other scriptures.
• Each lesson is 1-2 pages long, with a few questions at the end to facilitate discussions.
• It’s not homework intensive, which could exclude new members joining mid-study.
• You could choose to assign work a week in advance, or choose to hand out sheets each week as members arrive. While more time for meditation could enhance the group, if that’s intimidating for your members, it’s not necessary.
• Lesson is on one page, with questions on a separate page. This makes it easy to print and disperse as needed to fit the needs of your group.
• Uses PDF format which is easy to read for any user with free Adobe Reader download. Or, if you are like me, go paperless with Dropbox and an iPhone!
• Written by a woman, mother & crafter for women. TerryAnn addresses many of the mental and emotional issues such as inadequacy that women face in a very honest manner.
• Study begins by setting the tone and “rules” for the study. Many studies don’t address this and assume members all understand issues like gossip and keeping confidences within a group.

My only critical comment about this study is that at the time of my review (I received a preview copy) there was only one crochet pattern included. But, on the website there is a post entitled Where to find FREE Patterns. I’m sure this is because a blog post is much easier to update with new information than a PDF file.

Update: Terry confirmed that the final purchase copy does contain additional knit/crochet patterns!

I recently polled my Twitter followers about what are the best projects for beginner knit or crocheters. Two resounding answers came back: baby items and dishcloths. If you were beginning a study group, either of these would make fantastic projects that could in turn be donated to charities. Baby items can be donated to hospitals, crisis pregnancy centers, Newborns in Need or many other great organizations. Dishcloths could be sent to organizations that help families rebuild their household after flood, fire or homelessness or if your church has a kitchen, just gift them to that ministry.

If you are looking for that perfect summer study that is full of value, but not overwhelming with homework, you should check out Knit and Crochet Bible Study, Book 2: The Proverbs 31 Woman . You’ll notice on that page that there is a previous knit/crochet study available as well, or you can buy both at a significant discount.

I received a complimentary previem PDF copy of this study to read and review from TerryAnn Porter of Knit & Crochet Bible Study. These are my personal opinions, no other compensation was received for this post.
For more information please see my Disclosure Policy.

First up, the hats. What began as the bartering chip for an “at home” party became the centerpiece of the whole theme. Last October, I created Mario and Luigi hats for Halloween costumes. I told the birthday boy I would make a hat for each of his friends IF he agreed to a party in our home. He countered that the girls invited should have Princess Peach style crowns. I agreed, on the condition that we only invite a few children, 1 for each year of his age, and his brothers were automatically invited as well. The terms were accepted by all parties and I began crocheting hats in February.

I used the same pattern I used last fall, Mary Jane Hall’s Purple Newsboy Cap. This time I chose the Caron One Pound yarn in the scarlet color. I caught it on sale for about $5 a skein (pound) and I was able to make 4-5 hats out of each skein. Quite the deal! Also helpful is the fact the Caron One Pounds are dye lot free. That way if you run out, it’s easier to pick up a new skein without having to worry about the colors being ‘off’.

For the badge, I used acrylic felt. I grabbed a drinking glass from my kitchen cupboard that matched the size I wanted. Tracing around the edge of the glass helped to keep my circles uniform. I folded the red felt in half using the same technique you would to cut out a heart, and I free handed the letter M. On my original hats, I hand stitched the badges to the hat, but since we were making so many, I opted for hot glue as a quick solution. They turned out just fine. One tip: if you use hot glue, make sure to place some newspaper inside the hat so the hot glue doesn’t accidentally drip onto the back portion of the hat. It’s possible that it might render the hat unwearable if you miss this step.

For the Princess Peach crowns, I found a lovely tutorial from Juicy Bits and just adapted it to mimic Peach’s design.

The birthday boy chose a “Fire Mario” design for his hat, it was made with Red Heart Super Saver in white and the badge is the inverse of the others, a white letter on a field of red.

The hats were a huge hit and all the guests were thrilled to have a special hat to take home with them!

Join me later this week for details on the food and party activities.

I was seaming this beauty together on Christmas Eve. Yes, I am the queen of procrastination. I finished all the details and wrapped it somewhere after 11 p.m., resulting in a single, terrible lighting, iPhone photo. I was too caught up in the family festivities the next day to snag it back for a better, natural light photo. This just doesn’t do it justice:

It is the Little Luxury Kimono pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. It was a really quick knit and in my opinion a great first project if you are thinking about making garments or sweaters. It went quickly, was basic and gave me some practice on how a garment is put together. The down side is that if you are used to quick projects, like I am, it gets a bit boring at the end. Once you are finished knitting, you need to block, seam, maybe add some edging details, etc. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I liked learning and practicing some of these news skills. The pattern includes 5 pieces (back, front left, front right, and 2 sleeves) and the individual pieces knit up easily. This is a great evening, television project with the stockinette stitch pattern used. Easy decreases shape for the neck, so if you know knit, purl & decreases, any beginner can knit this project!

The yarn I used was Vanna’s Choice Baby in the Sweet Pea colorway. This was my second project using the Vanna’s Choice line from Lion Brand Yarn. My first project was the Luigi Hat. It took about 2 skeins to complete the project, with enough yarn left over to be comfortable (errors, details, edging, extras, etc.) I chose the green color because it is one of my sister’s favorite colors and it’s gender neutral. We are still waiting to find out if B.O.B. is a girl or boy. The Vanna’s Choice yarn is really soft and easy on your hands as you are knitting. It is one of the softest acrylic yarns I’ve tried. It is a worsted weight (weight class #4) which means it knits up pretty quickly. I believe this project was knit on size 7 or 8 needles. My only complaint about the Vanna’s Choice Baby is that the strands tend to separate a tad more easily than some other acrylics. Not too bad, but I’m just being completely honest here. The softness and the rich, almost jewel tone colors (compared to other baby yarns), and the fact you are likely using larger needles totally compensate for this issue. I loved the yarn so much on the next sale I grabbed one of each of the Vanna’s Choice Baby colors to play with and use in other projects. They are soft, yet vibrant, a nice change of pace from many chain store yarn brands.

It remains to be seen how well the kimono will survive in the wash and dry process necessary for newborns, but with $5 in yarn and only a few evenings worth of labor involved, it was a good trial into this sort of project. Sure, I wish I could make these for every new baby in my life, but I really don’t like seaming and blocking, at least not yet. Maybe once my children learn to feed themselves more often, or Mr. T builds that feeding trough for them, I’ll have more time and won’t mind the tedious parts as much. So for now, because of my life situation, not the pattern itself, this will remain and “family only and maybe not even them” project.

A quick note for all my fellow knitting and crocheting iPhone/iPod users: Lion Brand Yarn recently released (FINALLY!) an iPhone app that makes it much easier to cruise their listing of patterns while mobile. It’s an early version, has a few quirks, but it is so much better than having to use Safari to navigate the LBY website! It’s a free download too, pick it up here.