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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Let me count the ways...

Why do I love knitting?

Because it's slow. Like my breathing in yoga, it's soothing to the nervous system. I have to think about the process. I have to decide if I want the finished product badly enough to make it, stitch by stitch, or if I would enjoy the process enough that the end result doesn't matter so much.

Because it's tactile. Each kind of yarn feels different as it slips through my fingers. One of my first verbs as a child was "softit." As in, "Mommy, softit!" [translation: "Mommy, please let me touch that deliciously soft thing!"] I shop for clothing by walking through a store, discreetly dragging my fingertips along the racks of skirts, sweaters, blouses; I buy when the feel of a fabric stops me in my tracks. Knitting gives me that pleasure from the first time I pick up a skein of yarn, all the way through each wearing of the finished garment. I haven't knit with some angora/merino yarn aptly named Sublime yet, simply because I am not finished softingit.



Because I can watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer while I knit.

Because I can turn this...



into this!



Because, as Stephanie Pearl McPhee put it: knitting is like life. You do the same small things over and over, and end up with something beautiful.

2 comments:

  1. LOVE that last line Amy! So true - I hope you enjoy blogging! :)

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  2. Thanks Amy... You are one of my big inspirations in the blog area! I figured I might as well give it a go. :D

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