I'm a bit obsessed these days ~ with knitting. Over 50 years ago while watching my grandmother do embroidery with gnarled arthritic hands I asked her why she still stitched. "It helps my joints not hurt so bad". I understand that now, yet when I was 9 years old all I wanted to do was create something beautiful. I crocheted my first afghan at age 9. I learned to sew and took over making my own dresses after great instruction from my mom. I took turns at embroidery, cross stitch and years of quilting yet always with a crochet project in the works as well. I shied away from knitting because it was just too hard and confusing. Being left handed, and self taught I couldn't quite get my head around the process.
About 3 years ago, as I started the purging process of my craft closet, I looked again at a bin full of exquisite yarn. I had donated most of my 'cheap stuff' to local thrift stores, sold at garage sales and used for projects with my granddaughters. I had also received a large box of excellent quality sock yarn from a friend. I decided to try knitting one more time (but not socks!) Nearly all other hobbies have faded into memories and knitting is my new passion. There is just something about looking at a hank or skein of incredibly soft fiber (alpaca, wool, linen and more......) that screams to be wound into a cake or ball, then cast on to needles and over time become not just a thread of fiber but a garment or item to be worn and provide comfort.
Last night, during one of my sleepless nights after an exciting World Series game, (my other obsession right now is baseball) I was pondering what it is I love about knitting. All of it. I can look at those balls of yarn and imagine creating a shawl that will keep a loved one's shoulders warm, or a scarf that will be the perfect accessory for a friend or to wear myself and express my quirky style. I think the most enjoyable part is the rhythm of the needles in my hands as they slide back and forth, through the loops of yarn that somehow become a completed project so complex, yet as simple as the way you wind the yarn around that needle. I also understand now what my grandmother meant by keeping her hands active and moving kept the pain away. So much better than taking a pill!
I do a lot of thinking and praying while I knit. My world has expanded through knitting as well. A few weeks ago there was an annual yarn crawl going on in my area. All throughout central Texas 20 yarn and fiber shops participated in an event that ran for 10 days and drew hundreds of women and men. Over 3 days I drove many miles and visited 12 of those 20 shops. I received free patterns, won a door prize and added a few new needles and items to my stash. I also watched people. I saw carloads of women laughing and visiting those shops together. I listened to them talk in each shop about what they would make with the beautiful yarn that was the shop special. I saw some crying (literally) as they remembered their friend that had passed and had always been their driver for the yarn crawl in previous years. My favorite local shop is a magical place. Women (and again a few men) gather there each week just to stitch together. They share their lives and talk. In this age of electronics and instant gratification just like me they are drawn to something as simple as a ball of yarn, a pair of knitting needles or crochet hook and creating.
What once seemed like a completely foreign language to me (a knitting chart) has become a familiar friend and a piece of the puzzle needed to connect me with other people. I enjoyed my solitary drive over the hills and roads of Texas broken up by laughter and meeting new people in each yarn shop. I met women who are looking for help in their lives and I was able to share my business with them. I sat in one of the shops and just stitched for awhile, learning about the young woman who got through her cancer treatments by knitting and now she makes soft caps for others who are going through chemo. I met another woman who lost her husband and now her yarn shop friends are her family, the connection that helps her through the grief.
Really it is about people. There is still something deep inside each of us that yearns for connection with others. We may say we are more connected than ever through our phones and computers, but there is great joy in sitting next to a friend, working through a difficult knitting pattern together or simply listening to them share the latest story of their life. For so long I have been driven to succeed in my business, to provide for us in monetary ways. That is still a necessity. I will continue with that, but more importantly I will knit. I will talk to people in person, I will learn about them and get to know them, because that is what the true value in life is.
