How To Make A Knotted Rosary Chaplet

Wow, seems ages ago I was on my blog. Guess this is divine intervention. For those following me I'm so sorry for being silent for so long. As you can see, my last posting was about going back to work after a year being a full-time mom.

Since then, life in the Klang Valley is always busy la as usual.

The divine intervention that brought me back to these pages is none other than Nicholas John Bosco from Sarikei, Sarawak. Although, he is only 18 years old, he is on fire for the Lord.

I'm so proud of him and his team who are organising a camp for youths soon. They needed to learn how to make knotted chaplet rosaries and that is how I'm back here today.

After failing to meet online, I took Nicholas' advice to make a video. I've never done one so I learnt it after googling how to. Nowadays you want to learn something, you google it.

So here are the videos. I hope they are easy to follow. Please forgive me if it is unclear. I did it at the shortest possible time with limited equipment - just my PC webcam and movie maker.

Anyway, Nick and team, hope this helps and may you bring the Lord into the lives of many youths this Lent.

Have a great Ash Wednesday everyone!!!! and may you rediscover Jesus this Lent. Amen!

P.S. Unfortunately, my video came a bit too late. Nicholas and gang had found a different source to make the rosary. Well, I know my efforts did not go to waste. At least I've finally learnt how to record video and hopefully produce better ones into the future.

The great thing is Nick gave me an excuse to finally update my blog after such a long time. As he said in his FB, if this Lent you can start by making the rosary - as a first step towards praying it.

Once again blessed Lent to one and all...may you find Jesus in the poor around you.

Birth Of The Cradle Creations Knotted Rosary Workshop

Anne Marie and Juliet, our first two clients who signed up to learn how to make the rosaries (first two pix).

Kerry-Ann crafting a custom-made order for a sweet boy who bought a beaded cross for someone special, wonder whether it's for his mom or gf??? *wink wink*

Kerry-Ann and I posing before we tutup kedai (close shop around 1pm).

The close-up shot of the stock that was left when we ended.

Two satisfied clients, Mei (left, wearing the purple beaded cross made by Kerry-Ann) and Maria putting on her Olive wood cross Rosary (cross was bought and blessed in Jerusalem) - other parts of the Rosary was knotted by yours truly.

Last week was indeed a hectic week. In between work, a really good friend Ralph Curzon passed away, and then there was the St Thomas More parish Family Day in which our 100% effort was required to raise funds for our new home.

The great news is I heard all the RM50,000 worth of coupons were sold out. This meant we raised almost that amount - minus some cost here and there. Of course, the battle is not yet won. We are still very much in need of about or over RM9.5mil, with inflation always rearing its ugly head.

Good news is this 17 May, we shall have a forum to further discuss and brainstorm ideas to generate more funds (speedily, we hope) in order to make our new home a reality next Easter.

If you are a non-parishioner - we need all your prayers and most importantly your money (full story on my posting dated 25 April 2009).

Anyway, a personal note of thanks to the many people who came by my knotted Rosary stall - to either sign up and learn to make them or just to buy one. We raised about RM218. Not too bad la hor.

Anne Marie Tan from SS17 was my first client, while Angelina Bong, originally from Kuching, spent the most in our stall buying my Jerusalem olive wood cross rosary and a few beautifully beaded crosses made by my cousin and Godsister Kerry-Ann (sorry forgot to take your pix).

We realised that most people preferred to just buy the Rosaries instead of learning how to make them. In the end, what counts is STM gets the funding, right? Which is why I've decided to recruit Rosary makers after my class and then we can make more for sale.

Ready made designs should range from RM10-RM20 per rosary. If custom-made, then it could be about RM50 and above. For now, to order - please email me at hazelong888@gmail.com

All proceeds (minus the cost) will help build our permanent and visible place of worship brick by brick.

I was also very happy to have made friends with Juliet Lee, Marie Meity from Sumatra, Indonesia and Lifeliner, Alexis Ryan and Jacqueline, whom I discovered is also from Putra Heights. Ee Lynn, thanks for supporting the stall.

That's all for now... got to get ready for BEC Rosary tonight...which Rosary shall I bring tonight? Hmmm ... too many choices now.

Learn to Make Knotted Rosaries

UPDATED 8 DEC 2009
Since this blog was written, I've been further inspired and have created many different variations from what you would read here. Best to visit Creative Catholics (just click on the link). Have a blessed day, Amen!


Before I blog further, let me show you a few of my limited edition Cradle Collection handmade knotted rosaries by yours truly, in the hope that you will sign up for my class this 1 May 09 ...

My second successful knotted Rosary after discovering the joys of making it when I returned from the recent RCIA retreat in Port Dickson. I use it to pray the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet these days.

Made this for a 50th birthday present to a good friend. It is a knotted rosary with a wooden cross made from Olive trees grown in the Holy Land - Jeruselam. For the first 3 people who pay and sign up for my class this 1 May 2009, you will receive a similar rosary as my gift to you for taking speedy action - which contributes towards building the St Thomas More church, brick by brick.



I used a Franciscan crucifix, similar to the one which spoke to St Francis of Assisi, to make this full length rosary. Remnants from it, was used for the little one-decade piece you see. The rosaries and medals were my gift to my newly baptised relative and Godsister Kerry-Ann.
Now, if you look at the right hand side of my blog, you will also see my entire collection (you have to visit my blog to see it cos' its now a constant gadget, below the FOLLOW button. While you are there, just click the FOLLOW button ;-) and follow me for updates on this blog).
As I'm not feeling too well, I shall keep this posting short.
May is just a few days away. Let us together seek our Loving Mother's intercessions to help us in our life journey.
I'm happy to share that my mother, who used to rarely pray the Rosary, is now praying it regularly. I'm very grateful as I'm one of the benefactors of her newly formed habit.

For those of you who are visiting the St Thomas More Family Day and are still wondering whether to sign up for the knotted rosary class, know that Mother Mary was said to have given a (could be the first) Rosary to St Dominic and it was of the knotted kind, perhaps similar to the one you will learn to make ... cool or what?
So see you Friday. If you are not coming, send someone to sign you up. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my previous posting about the Family Day.
Cradle Collection Knotted Rosaries - Make Them, Pray Them and Help Us Build STM!
Amen!

(You may find other high quality knotted rosaries here. Just click on the images below...)

Making A Knotted Rosary

I had just returned from an RCIA retreat last Sunday (5th April). It was my first time attending such an event cos' as a cradle Catholic I was baptised just a month after I was born. I also received the other Sacraments one at a time, at the appropriate age of my childhood, teenage and adult life.


God truly answer prayers. As a cradle Catholic who doesn't know much, God sent me to this retreat as I had recently prayed to understand my faith more deeply.


What started out as a favour to my relative Kerry-Ann (who's conversion story will be featured here soon, I hope), He turned it around as His Favour to me.

You see Kerry-Ann's Godmother and sponsor could not make it for the retreat and she needed someone to stand proxy. I agreed.
To cut a long story short, we were in Port Dickson from April 3-5, and I was reminded of the beauty of the Holy Eucharist, through a video of the few Eucharistic miracles in Italy. I felt so blessed to have personally visited the one in Lanciano (itself an adventure on its own) when Patrick and I backpacked around Italy back in 2004.
I also experienced a very short version of the Ignatian Exercise which I had wanted to attend many a times at the Marantha Retreat centre but somehow missed it due to something or other.
But what I really needed as a Catholic, and which was not even part of the retreat's main "menu" was my attention towards praying the Rosary.
You see, during the retreat, some of the facilitators were learning how to make knotted rosaries to keep themselves busy while Fr OC Lim was conducting the sessions. However, their enthusiasm in making the rosaries soon caught Fr OC's attention and ours.
For me personally, I was hooked. At every break, I would try to learn a little more how to make them. I even persuaded one of the facilitators to let me try a few knots on her piece. Unfortunately, because it became like a distraction to the class, most of the time, the few of us who became knotted rosary "junkies" had to cut short the lessons, when the sessions resumed.
I think it was all God's plan. Growing up in a lapsed Catholic home until my dad returned to the Church when I was a teenager, praying the Rosary to me, was something my grandmother and late grandfather did well. That, coupled with the fact that I somehow always just prayed to Jesus or My dearest Abba directly, made the Rosary less significant in my faith journey.
However, I can see that God has been trying to draw me to it. One of His many strategies was getting me hitched to Patrick my husband. Pat can recite the Rosary extremely well, thanks to his mother Clara Ferns, who brought him up well as a good Catholic boy.
This is great for me, as I can then simply bluff my way through when praying together with him. During parts that I don't know I just go silent especially some parts of the Apostle's Creed (I know, I know, shameful, right?), the Hail Holy Queen, Let Us Pray and Memorare.
Pat even memorises the Litany... while I still can't remember well which days are for what Mysteries and definitely not know what the mysteries are, decade to decade. Of course, Pat knows them all by-heart (perhaps, not the Luminous Mysterious - which had been newly introduced).
His other ways of drawing me to praying the Rosary in the past were:
Allowing me to witness deliverance from evil spirits through the praying of Rosary.
My personal experience of an evil force releasing me as I prayed the Rosary in my mind, while it gaged me.
My grandparents' strong devotion to praying to Mother Mary by reciting the Rosary morning and night.
My friends Victor and Joanne who own a business call Rosary Hub.
And many more to mention....
Now the fantastic news is - after learning to make the knotted rosary (picture above is my handywork) I've been praying it regularly. I am also making an effort to memorize those prayers that I have yet to commit to memory.
If you are a typical cradle Catholic who fits the ignorant about Praying The Rosary bill like me, perhaps learning how to make these knotted rosaries might be the antidote.
I would love to hold sessions to teach it. Maybe as a fundraiser for our St Thomas More building fund. We really need all the help we can to build us a visible place of worship. Let me know, yes!
Mother Mary, I hope we can start afresh this year, building a lifelong relationship together. Thank you for bringing back to your loving embrace. Amen!

Your Prodigal Daughter,
Hazel

Update: To see my collection since then till Dec 09 - visit: Creative Catholics and click Cradle Creations from the Directory of Merchants....