Take Wool or Yarn or String Fiber is magical Spin, knit, crochet, weave, braid, or just make knots
Sing: Somebody is hurting my sisters and it’s gone on far too long, it’s gone on far too long, it’s gone on far too long. Somebody is hurting my sisters, and it’s gone on far too long, and I won’t be silent anymore.
When you cut your threads, imagine the girls and women breaking free from cycles of abuse. When you knot or twist a thread, imagine the abusers getting caught in the web of accountability.
To activate the spell: Don’t be silent anymore. Speak up.
I finished the first sleeve. I was afraid it might not look right when I attached it, so I crocheted it on before making the second. I am tired of unraveling, and I am very much in love with the painterliness of this sleeve, so I was really hoping it would work, and I think I have finally got it! One more sleeve, then stitch up the sides, and decide whether to do some finishing at the neck and waist, or leave the rolls, and then I am done.
I thought when I began this project that I might just whip through my projects to get as many finished as possible, but instead I am unraveling when I don’t absolutely love what I’ve made, and enjoying playing with color. I think I’ll finish this in the next week or so.
I have learned so much from this project. I’m learning to let go and remake something if I am not satisfied with it. Unraveling, like all grief-work, is a sacred process.
Day 17: In which I consider the artfulness of color and courage
Today I crocheted the shoulders together. I was thinking I would pick up stitches to knit up a more finished looking neckline, but I am going to leave it for now. I like the little roll, and I can always do more there later.
The problem now is the sleeves. When I began the project five years ago, when my knitting was slower and my attention span was even more like that of a butterfly, I followed the designer’s (Laerke Bagger’s) instructions more strictly, trying always to keep one of my neutral yarns in the mix of the two or three yarns I was knitting with at a time, and switching colors more quickly. As I got further in, and braver, I began to get bolder about using color more intuitively for me, changing colors less frequently, and blending my color changes. So when I unraveled the project the first time, I used the balls with the braver color choices for the front and the back, and made my sleeves from the grayer balls. The gray is on the top of the third picture.
I am totally in love with the two panels in the front and back, but I was only sort of satisfied with the sleeves, so. . .I unraveled them. This project has taught me so very much. About trusting my color instincts. About persistence. About approaching my work with a more artful eye. So. while I am disappointed that I still have so much more to go, I am really happy with how much the process has been teaching me, so I am actually really happy to redo this part of the sweater. I won’t have trouble finding a use for the gray balls.
I also crocheted a few more hearts and flowers for Pride.
Tassel on the hat. Most successful hat tassel I’ve ever done. And the hat is really big. I followed the pattern I found on the internet, but didn’t have size 5 needles, so I used size 6, and that seems to have been the problem. Sigh. I will still wear it. Might make another. (Hmmm. But that would be started ANOTHER project rather than finishing one already begun. . .)
And I taught some folks to knit tonight! I’ve never been really good at explaining knitting, but these were quick learners, and they were patient with me.
I am making steady progress with The Alone Together Poncho-thing. Tomorrow is my last day of Break, so my progress on all projects will slow down. Some people go traveling for spring break. Some people clean house. I knitted.
Day 10: Here’s the thing: I made some adjustments to the pattern thinking it wouldn’t affect the outcome much. It’s been two years, so Bagger no longer has the free pattern on her IG page, so I couldn’t use it even if I tried. My idea to create two panels with slight decreases at the top simply didn’t work. I put it all together this morning, and I hated the shape of it. I’ve never made a sweater before, and I have been hoping that I could just make a lovely messy thing that I would love to wear.
So I unraveled again today. I’m a little frustrated, but also determined to make the final sweater something I WANT to wear. Maybe I’ll make a poncho? I’m going to set it aside for a while and work on this hat, and some of my other projects.
So it has been a bit of a Samuel Beckett project so far. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Day 6: “The best reason for a knitter to marry is that you can’t teach the cat to be impressed when you finish a lace scarf.” ― Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
Actually, my biggest knitting fan is my cat, and I think he can’t wait until I am finished with The Alone Together Sweater, so I can wear it and he can sit on me.
Today is another day of Parent Teacher Conferences. I’ve never taught at a school that brings me such joy during PTConferences. We do team meetings, and we sit around and talk about how the student has grown, strategizing ways to make learning easier and more effective. The high schoolers attend their own conferences, and they participate in the strategy sessions. Today at the end of a session a student gave an impromptu speech about how much Janus has supported their personal and academic growth, and their parent had everybody getting teary talking about how proud they are of their student’s persistence and kindness and creativity.
Today I got to the ribbing at the wrist of the sleeve, and made nine little hearts for Pride, holding onto that beautiful and loving energy of my students and their parents and my colleagues. May we all See each other with such gracious eyes.
I came in to school today, and this was in my box! A colleague bought it for me. I feel Seen! The synchronicity is abundant these days.
This knitting element of my Tying Up Loose Ends project has me thinking a lot about textile arts, how they’ve been so often the province of women, how “women’s work” has so often been derided as less than the work and the art of men, how the spinning and the knotting and the weaving of threads are ancient work, necessary to our ancestors for keeping families clothed and warmed, how these acts became magickal acts.
We spin the stories that connect us to each other, weave and knit together the strands of our separateness into whole community cloth. We untangle threads to see more clearly the path we must follow.
I cast off the second front piece today, and began a sleeve. Thor really does love this project.
I’m home today because all my Parent Teacher Conferences are on Zoom, so I have moments between conferences when I can knit a couple rows—a palate cleanser for the brain, if you will. I’m almost finished with this front panel.
Next week is Spring Break, and I have a feeling I might finish this sweater then! Unless I find myself unraveling to remake bits. I am in this project to learn.
“Letting go is the lesson. Letting go is always the lesson. Have you ever noticed how much of our agony is all tied up with craving and loss?” ― Susan Gordon Lydon, The Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice
I found that quote online, and just went and ordered the book on Thriftbooks.
Mockingbird Chronicles 