Each Stitch Represents
Thoughts on how your knitting represents yourself.
Transforming the emotions you feel into a knit or crocheted object for yourself or others.
There is an amazing amount of inspiration in your every day life that lends itself easily to your craft. Whether that craft is knitting, crochet, needlework - or even ranging to metalwork, carpentry, masonry, or anything else, it doesn't matter. We all take our inspiration from the same places - our emotions, memories, and what occurs to us in every day life. We take those things and transform them from the ethereal into the corporeal.
So how does this affect knitting or crochet? Whatever one makes, it is not just simply an object created from a bunch of yarn. It is a design of hundreds, even tens of thousands of stitches, each individual yet making of the whole. That represents you, the knitter or crocheter. Each time you make something, whether it's a cardigan to keep warm, or a teddy bear to give to a loved one, it is a symbol of love that is being given a physical form.
When making an item for a loved one, it's not just a pair of socks, or a blanket, or a little stuffed toy. It's the symbol of love. Knit them clothes to keep them warm and to give comfort to them when they're cold. Knit toys to bring joy to a young sibling's face, and to give them something to hug if they are sad, an item into which they can bury their face and cry when all the world seems against them.
Knitting a sweater can remind you of what pride a handmade object can bring, and to remember a time when our ancestors couldn't just purchase a sweater on a whim; when a sweater was a cherished object that was to be treated with care and respect. Knitting a pair of slippers to slip on at night can give weary feet from a long day of work a much needed rest. Knitting a dishcloth, transforms an everyday object into a small treasure.
Next time you pick up those sticks or hooks, take that time to think about your tools, your yarn, and your hands. Follow the stitches with your eyes, and rather then concentrating on getting it done, muse over what your project will say about you and what that new piece of art will mean in your life.
© Kelly Gilliam, text and images. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
