Chai, y'all!

I have an idea rolling around in my head. Somehow, without looking tacky or too Kabbalah-ish, I'd like to incorporate the Hebrew word for "life" (chai) into a project. I'm not Israeli or Jewish, but I *did* take Hebrew in college (I have a knack for languages. I also took German and French simultaneously in high school and was near/at the top of my class in both) and my favorite authors are Jewish (sorry, Katrina Firlik--I only consider authors who have MULTIPLE books as my faves among my favorite authors). Here is my pattern of the letters. Now that I take another look, it could use a few revisions. Sigh.


Hebrew letters, in case you don't know, have a numerical value. In this case, chai has a value of 18. The 1s could serve "double duty" in framing the word, and the 8s add a little decoration and look like the sign for infinity. But it needs more. Any ideas? Maybe incorporate the 8s into Aran knots at the corners?


In other news, Henrietta is really progressing. The pattern is from the book "A Treasury of Rowan Knits" which seems frumpier (neologism here?) now than when I bought it. But Henrietta is rather nice. Using Patons Classic Merino Wool, color Petal Pink, knit on US 6s. Those things could be a deadly weapon they are so sharp. I guess you could say the needles are "vintage." They were passed on to me (along with many others) from my mother, who used them in the 1960's. Hoo boy.

No shaping through the body has made for a really quick knit! It's a beatiful thing.