Most knitters know: Getting through a difficult time often means knitting through it. Its this home truth--and all the homespun wisdom behind it--that comes through clearly in the writings gathered in this book.
These pieces--some by contemporary writers like Donna Druchunas and Sherri Wood, others excerpted from the WPAs Federal Writers Project--tell stories of knitting through adversity as widespread as war or the Great Depression, as personal as political anxiety, as unyielding as a prison term, and as tenacious as the hardships endured by the Native American community over centuries.
Men and women, young and old, rural and urban, white and black--their knitting narratives are poignant, often lyrical, rich with personal and cultural history and vivid imagery. They conjure hardscrabble lives and immigrant experience, the work of anxious hands kept busy creating warmth and beauty or earning desperately needed money. Along with the stories from the WPA project, the book features black and white photographs from the Library of Congress archives, as well as a sampling of patterns to help knitters through their own difficult times.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Knitting Through…
…Charity
“Weaving the Past into the Future” by Christy Breedlove
Excerpts from an interview with Miss Emma Willis
Photo of Knitting Class, Henry Street Settlement
…Illness
“Sofia’s Hands” by Alexandra Halpin
Photo of Woman Knitting, Washington, D.C.
Excerpt from “Knitting Sale Socks”
…Smoke
Photo of Hélène Magnússon wearing her Hammer Rose Pattern Vest
“Three Stitches per Second” by Hélène Magnússon
Photo of soft Icelandic shoes with knitted insoles
Pattern: Hammer Rose Vest
…Grief
“Knitting Life, Knitting Love” by Margaret Blank
Photo of Russian knitting bag and glass candle sticks
…Work
Photo of a girl at the London (Loudon) Hosiery Mills
Excerpts from an interview with Alice Candle
Photo of Sylvain Dornon, last of the Tchangkats
…Unemployment
“The Rising Tide” by Amy Holman
Excerpts from an interview at Abyssinia Baptist Church
Photo of Sojourner Truth
…Politics
“Knitting Through Red States vs. Blue States” by Erica Pearson
Pattern: Beginner’s Scarf (a.k.a. Election Night Scarf Redux)
Four letters from the Abraham Lincoln Papers
Photo of Grace Coolidge knitting
…Prison
Excerpts from an interview with Mrs. I.E. Doane
Photo of “1,200 Hats”
“1,200 Hats: Art and Healing in the Making” by Sherri Wood
Pattern: Crocheted Hat
Photo of Sing Sing convicts knitting
…War
“All New York in Big Knitting Bee,” 1918
Excerpt from “No News for Me” by John Ross Dix
Lela Nargi is a knitter, author, and former journalist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her book Knitting Lessons: Tales from the Knitting Path documented her own adventures in learning to knit, and also featured dozens of interviews with knitters around the country, as a means to understanding what it is about the practice of knitting that draws people in and keeps them returning, sometimes obsessively, to their yarn. A recent essay about knitting, “Knitting Is Work and the Widows of Sant’Arsenio” is included in Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales. Lela is also the editor of Knitting Memories: Reflections on the Knitter's Life, published by Voyageur Press.
Most knitters know: Getting through a difficult time often means knitting through it. It’s this home truth that comes through clearly in the writings gathered in this book.
These pieces—some from contemporary writers and others from the WPA’s Federal Writer’s Project—tell stories of knitting through adversity of all kinds, from war and poverty to imprisonment and political anxiety. Poignant, often lyrical, the narratives conjure hardscrabble lives and immigrant experience, the work of anxious hands kept busy creating warmth and beauty or earning desperately need money.
Also featured are black and white photographs from the Library of Congress archives, as well as a sampling of patterns to help knitters through their own difficult times.
Most knitters know: Getting through a difficult time often means knitting through it. It’s this home truth—and all the homespun wisdom behind it—that comes through clearly in the writings Lela Nargi has gathered in this book. These pieces—some by contemporary writers like Donna Druchunas and Sherri Wood, others excerpted from the WPA’s Federal Writer’s Project—tell stories of knitting through adversity as widespread as war or the Great Depression, as personal as political anxiety, as unyielding as a prison term, and as tenacious as the hardships endured by the Native American community over centuries. Men and women, young and old, rural and urban, white and black—their knitting narratives are poignant, often lyrical, rich with personal and cultural history and vivid imagery. The stories conjure hardscrabble lives and immigrant experience, the work of anxious hands kept busy creating warmth and beauty or earning desperately needed money. Along with the excerpts from the WPA project, the book features black and white photographs from the Library of Congress archives, as well as a sampling of patterns to help knitters through their own difficult times.
