Janet Bristow and Victgoria A. Cole-Galo founded the Shawl Ministry (see shawlministry.com) in America, and groups formed all over the US. Women sat together and knitted shawls, blessing them, composing prayers for them, and giving them away to those who were ill, grieving, frightened, celebrating, or just seemed in need of a special prayer. Complete instructions are given for 38 original designs, developed by various expert knitters especially for the Prayer Ministry. There are several beginner-level shawls, just as beautiful as the ones for more advanced knitters. Each shawl if shown in a full-colour photograph.

Offers a colorful collection of designs for knitted prayer shawls. Each pattern contains the background story from the designer, pictures, clear directions and a prayer of blessing. The designers tend to be Christian, but not exclusively so and the blessing prayers could be adapted to honor other faith traditions. The appendix contains a short article on beginning a prayer shawl ministry and the beginning sections of the book discuss the foundations of choosing yarn, arranging the environment and even how to receive a prayer shawl. ( )