― Susan Gordon Lydon, The Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice
I have been in a love affair with wool since I became pregnant and dreamed of cloth diapers and long woolies. I bought pure wool and hired a lovely lady to knit diaper covers and longies for me which I then lanolized. I purchased a lambskin for the carseat and one for the bed. Her sidecar crib mattress, an heirloom quality, hand made for her, wool stuffed and covered thick, luxurious beauty from Oregon. Wool covers protect the bed from accidents. Wool mattress pads cradle us in our beds. I felted wool toys. I created mittens and longies, sweaters and hats for her from felted adult sweaters. Always longing to knit. And of course, desperately wanting a flock of my own to be involved in the entire magical process. Reality? Many failed attempts at knitting later, I am determined to get it this time. I am in a town with a lovely, charming, wonderful and friendly little knitting shop and have met a few fellow wool lovers who knit. I will be a knitter! You can expect many posts about this process, I hope you join me.
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I have taken great encouragement from an article I read this morning
"...Three Rules of Knitting...
1. It’s just knitting. It’s knots and holes and nothing more. The one trick is making sure that all the knots and all the holes are where you meant them to be.
2. If you stuff something up, you can always undo it. If the whole thing goes to pot, you can unravel the lot. You can even ignore your mistake without genuinely disastrous consequences. It’s knitting, not the Large Hadron Collider or brain surgery.
3. If you do make a horrible mistake and have to start again, the only consequence is that it will take you a bit longer. No-one will die, no puppies will harmed, no kittens will be forced to wear demoralising costumes (if you are knitting an outfit for your cat, you may want to take a moment to reconsider before you start again, though.)"
My favorite knitting quotes:
“And in the act of making things, just by living their daily lives, they also make history.
Knitting is clothing made in spare moments, or round the fire, whenever women gathered together... It's something to celebrate-clothes made in love and service, something women have always done.”
― Anne Bartlett, Knitting: A Novel
“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
― Elizabeth Zimmermann
“Given good yarn, good workmanship, and good care, a knitted shawl and outlive its knitter, providing warmth and pleasure to several generations of family and friends.”
― Martha Waterman
