Knitting life
The walls are closing in, the air is thick and heavy and hard to breathe.
My shoulders are bowed under weights real and perceived.
Soon any movement will feel like a burden.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice a ball of yarn and needles on the sofa.
My attention is drawn so I walk over, sit down, and take them in my hands.
The yarn is a comfort, soft to touch. I bury my face in it and smell its sheepiness.
Slowly, intentionally, I make a loop and slide it onto the needle.
One loop, a small opening.
Another easily follows and then, with no effort or time, another and then another.
Soft ridges all lined up in a row, contentedly sitting there together.
I take the other needle and put it through the front of the first loop, wrap yarn around the back, and coax it through to the other side as the first one gracefully makes its way off the needle and into a stitch.
Such a simple thing, a very small cozy space framed in color and texture.
A stitch, one single stitch.
Followed by another and then another gracefully flowing off one needle and onto the other.
Simple and fluid, this movement of yarn and needle.
The air seems lighter. I try filling my lungs. Deep breath in and out, another and another.
Space within which to move.
I then wrap the yarn twice around the needle and work all the way down the row, turn around, and now each stitch made drops off into an even bigger space.
Shoulders lighten and the walls recede.
Air in, needle through loop, yarn around back of needle, through loop, and then a space, a stitch, again and again.
Such a comfort this repetitive making of stitches with wool. Creating space, marking time as each one builds onto the next.
Breathe
Knit.
Breathe.
Knit.
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Thank you for the reminder. I’m watching Hurricane Ike approach part of my family, and remembering to find the wool for some space and breathing is a good idea.
Ditto; Lots of turmoil in our lives,and the small act of knitting a few rows can melt tension, and the art of creating something beautiful and useful is so fulfilling!
So Tina you and your crew must really be fulfilled, cuz you make LOTS of BEAUTIFUL yarn!!!
That is the best poetry about knitting I think I’ve ever read. Thank you for that.
Hey, girl, are you doing OK?
it must be strange to have knitting and yarn be equally the source of stress and the source of comfort. by strange i don’t mean bad—most of us only find our work to be a source of stress, and no comfort at all. accomplishment, maybe, but definitely not solace.
keep breathing.
i for one am thankful that something relieves the stress. oddly comforted to know i’m not the only one!
amen.
and ironically, last time I did this breathing thing? it was something chicken-y, just a couple of days ago. (more to be revealed.)
Boy knitting does keep one in prospective as we look around at the many areas of destruction..we see neighboring homes with trees lay across..Yes we all were in the dark for over SIX days..one does learn to survive..we discarded freezers full of food, refrigerators emptied..We cooked on the BBO.We drove to 60 miles for food, gas and a good meal. Much praise goes out to the linemen that came to our rescue..some as far as Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma..parts unknown..Thank you, Thank you.
This is so “zen”. It is almost like, but not as eloquent as, the way that my yoga instructor put it! Ahhh. And that photo of all the fiber! I sould never have much to sell, you have great control! BTW, I love your fibers. I only ever had one “skein” that was a little knotted up, much better than the fiber I have gotten off ebay!
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