Why I Knit

I can't really remember when I first started knitting. I know in third grade I stayed after school and learned to crochet. I thought that was pretty cool. I have made many a blanket and granny square in my day. I have cross stitched some linens as well. Probably about 5 years ago I picked up some knitting needles. Took a class at the YMCA and I haven't put my needles down.

I love to knit.

But I REALLY LOVE Yarn

Something about a hank of alpaca running through my fingers makes me salivate. A ball of silk, I am dizzy. Forget a skein of cashmere. The colors make me excited. I see a particular fiber in a particular color and I see a finished project. Mind you, I have many works IN progress, but that is another story.

A friend of mine once told me the click of her knitting needles made her smile. For me, it is the process of sitting and focusing. Knit one purl one. Knit two purl two. What ever the pattern is I am there. In the yarn, in the fiber. Creating. Or not. Many projects I have almost finished and I stop and rip out. Why? Because it is not what it is supposed to be. I am not attached to the outcome I just love the process.

Recently I started a knitting club at the high school where I work. Eight inner city girls and one boy (who was just there to "watch") joined me after school. So focused and intent on casting on, you would never know that in that group was someone just out of a psychiatric hospital, someone struggling with gynecologic problems, someone with significant learning disabilities, and someone just hours before disclosed abuse. We were all just sitting. Knitting. Touching fiber. Talking about how it feels in our hands. How funny it is to use knitting needles. Focusing on the strand of yarn in our hand. That is all. That is wonderful.

So why do I knit. Because when I knit I am fully present in that moment. In my body.

One stitch at a time.