September has already marked the completion of my ninety-first pair of mittens. Now they are on their way to Canada to help raise funds for a ministry that brings the light of the gospel of Christ to some of the darkest places on earth.
When I offered to design a unique "Persian Rug" pattern for my friends in this ministry, I had no concerns about finishing them on time. There was more than a month available. But for a variety of reasons, the first mitten didn't turn out. No big deal. I ripped it out and reworked the pattern.
That was only the beginning of many pattern adjustments and daily problems. One would think that after making ninety pairs of mittens, the process should be easy, right?! Well, one complication was this being my first time to use three colors, which threw my tension out of control. Another was using a finer wool yarn than usual to get the more detailed design. And the rest of the problems were simply dumbfounding.
After nearly 3 weeks, I finally had a pair complete; a process that could have taken less than one week. All that remained was to let them dry from the wet-blocking process. When I found the dense wool still damp a couple of humid days later, I thought I'd finish off the process by sticking them in the turned-off oven a while after we pulled out our supper.
That would have worked brilliantly... IF I had remembered to take the mittens out that evening. But when I came down the following morning, the kitchen smelled pretty awful. The oven was preheating, and my brain froze with the horror of pulling out the odorous pair with white yarn now the color of a toasted marshmallow.
It only got worse as I flipped them over. I just stood there and prayed as my sister tried to comfort me. And God clearly gave me His peace.
When I could breathe again, I went straight to my yarn stash, then to the pattern and a scale. Was there enough yarn left to make another pair? Yes! Was there enough time left? Two weeks... should be fine. Next came another reworking of the pattern to fine-tune more details.
Then followed another eight days of baffling problems. Every day I tore out hours of work - knitting and re-knitting what should have been easy on this second pair. Even if my little project was not worthy of enemy attention, it felt like a battle to fight for the Kingdom of God. I know He certainly used these weeks to test my patience and perseverance and to remind me to pray for the people facing much bigger battles as they carry the Truth around the world.
Four weeks (and the equivalent of knitting at least seven mittens) later, I set a new pair to dry in the breeze coming from an air-filter. Success! The only quirk with this pair is that one has a slightly darker base-color than the other since I ran out of the matching grey dye lot. Maybe the winners of these mittens can use that as a reminder to pray for the missionaries they are helping to support - as they persevere through their own difficult days.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
Galations 6:9
