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Posts Tagged ‘knitting’

True Story

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 30, 2026| 4 Comments »


 
“What on earth can we do to make this sad and beautiful world a little softer for everyone?” — Shannan Martin, The Ministry of Ordinary Places
 
 
Once there was a woman who knit. 
She knit the sky and the cemetery,
narrow alleys and the deep sea, the highway
and the willow, starlight and the bare bulb. 
It was not easy to slip such things onto her needles, 
but she knew she could do hard things. 
Of course, she doubted herself. 
That did not stop her from knitting.
Every moment of every day, the chance 
to add everything she saw and tasted, felt
and heard, into one blanket large enough 
to touch everyone. It never was quite large enough,
though, she every day, she kept on knitting.
She could feel herself how silky, how cozy it was. 
What makes softness is no secret. It is love.
Sometimes she dropped a stitch. Sometimes
she lost the pattern and had to start a row over.
Sometimes she had to make up something new. 
But she knew what she had to do. Something. Anything. 
Everything she could to make this sad and beautiful
world a little softer for everyone. There is no end
to the work she does. Every day, she picks
it up, admires the progress she’s made, worries
about the holes, starts her knitting again. 
 

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For the Knitter of Shawls

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on August 2, 2021| 2 Comments »




On the day
I most needed
to remember
how to pray,
a prayer shawl
arrived in the mail.
I wrapped myself in it
and felt in the trinity stitch
the singing of my name,
felt the colors tether me
to my own heart.
Sometimes when we
feel most alone,
the world conspires
through the goodness
of others to remind us
who we are,
remind us that now
is the right moment
to wrap ourselves
in the kind of beauty
no fear can extinguish,
now is the right moment
to feel how,
though we are alone,
love floats
around our shoulders
soft and so warm.


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There, In the Cupboards at the Cancer Center

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2019| 4 Comments »

 

 

 

Someone has crocheted a half dozen blankets—

one dark purple, another camo green, another

with stripes in every possible color.

There are half a dozen quilts with bright squares.

And someone has knit a dozen hats—

and a basket on the shelf overflows with handmade scarves.

 

My friend chooses a pink cotton pillow

that someone has sewn in the shape of a heart

and a long creamy scarf, impossibly soft.

She would rather be anywhere but here,

but look at that smile as she dons the scarf,

as if its stitches are keeping her from falling away.

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Strange Bedmates

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 3, 2019| 4 Comments »

 

 

grief and celebration

share the same bed—

one keeps stealing the blanket

the other

keeps knitting a beautiful new one

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Tonight While I Was Knitting

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

I imagined pearling a silk shawl of prayers generous enough to cover the whole cold world, the color of the moon.

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One Best Intention

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on July 7, 2016| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

I knit words into a shawl

to wrap around your shiver

then wish I’d brought a real blanket, warm

 

 

 

 

 

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three haiku: limitations

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on February 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

no matter how open
the heart, the eyes can only
follow one snowflake

*

tonight a whole hat
is stitched out of the promise
just two more minutes

*

all these flowers
I’ve learned by proper name
let’s relearn by scent

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seven haiku

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

those wild geese
edging the clouds, my thoughts fly
beyond their wings

*

just one more row
I think, and knit one more and think
just one more row

*

the night pressed
its darkness into me, what
could I do but open

*

these ears
go on a long walk looking
for bird song

*

while no one’s watching
I trade all my molecules
with the night

*

did someone sow
all those stars, or did someone
trip and spill the bag

*

walking at two below
both questions and answers
come out as clouds

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And So Many Holes and Dropped Stitches

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 27, 2011| 1 Comment »

learning to knit

I imagine
we are made
of the same cloth

one thread
many knots

&
what
shape
will we take?

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