Inspiration
Beige
Dear Kay,
I’m finishing a scarf I started last May.
Garter stitch. It’s beige.
Coming back to it now, many months after I began, provides a powerful memory trip to the place where I bought the yarn: Lellabella, a tiny jewel box on one of Venice’s labyrinthine streets. Its address alone gave me a shiver: Calle de la Mandola, 3718, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy. So Italian.
The Venetian rain was creating lowkey acqua alta as I tried to find the shop. Puddles in Venice can become biblical, and while I was curious to see what the famous high water would be like, I was also mostly interested in tracking down this Lellabella place.
Soaking wet, I persevered, and there is no place cozier, more dry, more welcoming than a yarn shop in a thunderstorm. Despite the dozens of colorful yarns available at Lellabella, I picked yarn in a color I’d never bought: a soft ecru, in cashmere and cashmere/silk, to knit held double.
It seemed like the most luxurious thing in the world, to have yarn like this, from a place like Venice.
As pleasant as that memory is, something else washes over me now. Knitting with this yarn has given me the chance to let my mind loose. I’ve been digesting all the talk last week on MDK—about tariffs and our shared love of yarn makers all over the world, Samantha’s piece about the crochet granny square that is her never-ending comfort knitting, and Jillian’s visit to a fabled mill in New Hampshire. I’ve been lost in a deep reflection about the interconnectedness of the knitting world.
Of course, a thought like that leads to the larger thought about the way our world is one world, one giant community, tied together in myriad ways: geographical, economic, religious, cultural.
We cannot lose sight of this. It feels raggedy right now. Good people are having a hard time. My sour and sad and furious thoughts threaten to sink me. To have the luxury of time and freedom and space to knit a cashmere scarf isn’t an escape from the troubles of the world. It’s the time when my mind opens and I think about what needs to be done. When I try to think of ways to help.
It’s this garter stitch scarf that’s helped to distract me from perseverating on what I can’t do, and to focus on what is possible. And I’m sitting here thinking about how unlikely any of this would have been to me, back in Venice, in 2024, when I was wandering around looking for that yarn shop on Calle de la Mandola.
Love,
Ann
(PS More about that trip to Venice here and here. Astounding cut-velvet weaving content, plus attempt to eat Venetian seafood.)
All of this, Ann. Thank you for saying what I feel, too. Solidarity and love from across the miles.
Yes, all.. of.. this.
Thank you for your words, and for continuing to speak out. In these divisive times, speaking the simple truth about tariffs can cost you friends and customers, so I respect MDK for not staying silent.
My crafting groups are filled with sweet little ladies (and men!) who are ready to take to the streets. This is not the world we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.
Hear! Hear!
So beautifully written, Ann. I think the same way you do. Absorbing the raggedness of the world, but putting energy into what needs to be done, and where that intersects with how I can help.
I’m working on a gansey using 5-ply gansey wool on 2.75 mm needles and I’m in the boring stockinette in the round for 300+ stitches stage but it is surprisingly soothing. A good antidote to my doom-scrolling in the wee hours and worrying about my brother in hospice.
Hugs Wendy, as you go through this hard time.
Ann, thank you for the cashmere words that touched my heart. It’s so hard to find a path that helps us all gravitate to a higher secure ground. Knowing I’m part of more than one community that is facing critical uncertainty and insecurity is heartbreaking.
I’ve been struggling with my knitting lately. My mind can’t focus on complicated instructions. I’m not excited by a new technique. I realize, it’s time for garter stitch. I dug out some really special yarn I got at Nashfest. I’m going to start my scarf today! Now isn’t the time to stress over what I can’t do, but find hope and solutions in what I can do! While I’m knitting, I’ll be thinking about that powerful, positive , creative collective of amazing people that I met while in Nashville.
Although knitting is a true lifeline for me, I am a maker and do not make my living in the industry. I have always appreciated the way that MDK has expanded my awareness, appreciation and excitement of all facets of the industry. But, I especially appreciate and need the insider’s perspective on the uncertainty facing so many right now. Thank You!
I’m on the second half of a Sophie shawl using Juniper Moon Cumulus. Its cottony squishiness and garter stitch rhythm are really comforting. I’m glad that its not just me who knits to quell anxiety.
I have spent the last few months knitting baby blankets with this yarn. It’s simple and soothing and I think about all the babies who will be wrapped up snug in pretty colors instead of thinking about the state of the world.
Ann, I feel for you and everyone in the business! I just ordered a book and a little embroidery kit from France and accidentally hit the payment button before I noticed the shipping was costing me $79! (More than the price of the order!) I hope these tariffs don’t last long! It’s time to contact our congressmen.
Ann, read through those previous articles and – while mesmerized – also and maybe always will look at Venice through the lens of that “Don’t Look Now” movie. More haunting than “Jaws”. (Luckily I saw it Before I got married and had a daughter.). But many decades later, my perspective has, of course, changed and your words have me thinking seriously of a short visit.
I became unexpectedly verklempt reading your message about the (seemingly) sudden change to our global knitting and fiber community. Fiber from my own home country, Denmark , is currently somewhere in customs, atm. I don’t know if it “got out” in time. Thanks for sharing, Kay, it’s indeed sad how hobbled our community feels right now…
I have multiple WIPs, all from yarns purchased during trips to Europe. Each project is a blessed memory : this one from a farm
in Lofoten, Norway, where the sheep wandered around the farm shop, this from a tiny store in Visby, Sweden…making things, yes, but more importantly calming me, recalling wonderful travels and hoping for a better future.
“Raggedy” captures just how I am feeling these days – edgy, angry, sad all at the same time. I have never appreciated the soothing quality of my knitting more.
Thank you for these words and for just the right word for this
day and time— raggedy. So descriptive for these days. I wonder how we will ever find the thread that heals these raw edges and keeps us bound to the rest of the world.
Yes, yes, and yes. Knitting is a wonderful balm for the soul and the body always and especially right now during this time of global turmoil and nonsense in our crazy country. I think I’d be lost without it.
I’m recovering from a strange mental health crisis right now and knitting is most assuredly helping with that.
Thank you for this—
Yes. As one commenter wrote, “the raggedness of the world”.
I worry about it all so much and knitting does help.
I call it Zen Knitting, or Mindless Knitting. It’s very good for my soul when I’m feeling lost in the
“raggedness” of a world I can no longer understand.
. . . it brought me to tears . . .
Zeng Fanzhi: Near and Far/Now and Then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NRKfCL53Fo
This was, and will continue to be, a place I can go to escape “My sour and sad and furious thoughts threaten to sink me.”
I’ve been stuck knitting Sophia Shawls, scarfs and Sophia hooded scarfs since January. Just garter stitch and different colors. When I feel the anxiety creeping in, I pull out the garter stitch and feel my self relaxing a little. I’ve just cast on a sock, I need to get back to knitting other things, but my basket with Sophia Scarfs and Sophia Shawls is right beside my chair also.
I really needed this today, Ann! Thank you
Thank you , Ann. Raggedy is the perfect word! I could never knit and listen to a lecture or presentation and now I realize why—knitting sets my mind free to roam and unwind. These are very hard times, politically and emotionally. We have to stay alert to political changes and keep knitting in garter until we see the light at the end of the tunnel…..
Thank you for your beautifully written thoughts regarding the many turmoils taking place. It gives me hope that so many of you feel the injustice taking place and the resulting human cost. Knitting does take the edge off the day.
Simply beautiful.
Such eloquent words to describe exactly what I am feeling, too. I’m concentrating on tiny baby things for the young people in my life. Simple garter cardigans, booties and vests, some with dainty crochet edgings. Easy, soothing knitting full of hope for the future.
Thank you, Ann, for your words that voice the feelings for so many of us. As a person of action that usually ends with results, I have felt immobilized. The chaos in our world seems so big that I have no idea where to start. (And it seems that is the game plan in many sectors of our country.) So, I anchor myself with the feel of wool slipping between my fingers and time spent on my yoga mat often just anchoring my breath. I started the Labor Day holiday with the Two Y’s….yarn and yoga….and my afternoon not YELLING. Instead I held a sign with several hundred other people along a busy street where we were greeted with honking and thumbs’ ups along with some of the other finger. My WOTY has become “persist”. I push through and grab my yarn which is at the ready on my kitchen counter. Sometimes simply standing and knitting a row helps. At other times, I grab my sign and write to representatives in all areas of government. I am grateful for so many others that share my sentiments. And I appreciate that you are brave enough to share with us.
I have been in that shop a number of times, most recently last September. The proprietress is lovely and makes such colorful, inspired garments, all designed by her. Your purchase of this beautiful yarn was a statement itself in the midst of all that swirling, marling mastery. Good for you for being able to say “Beige” in the midst of that conversation of color. Our hearts know what we need. Thank you for the lovely reflection and memory. Stay calm and knit on, I guess.
I feel much the same way and more and more helpless to get things back on track. I have been working on a shawl, Herald by Janina Kallio, which is almost mindless but keeps me busy. I just don’t seem to be able to concentrate on anything that needs shaping.
Your words helped me so much this morning. Everyone’s comments remind me that we are part of a strong, creative, and caring community and we have power. Power to find the things that keep overwhelm at bay and power to evoke and support change.
Thanks for this reminder! I too have been in that beautiful yarn shop in Venice and purchased the same yarn in a minty color. I had no plans for it but needed it none the less. We are indeed all connected in this fiber world and knitting has been my solace in these dark days so thank you all at MDK for your daily writings. You have no idea how much it helps.
I think you just put it all together for me. I’ve been knitting garter scarves through the summer, placing the concentration of a Nell vest to the wayside because of the attention it needs. Currently knitting Good Bear clothes for young twins because the girls have learned to dress and undress the bears. And it SPARKS JOY.
Oh, Ann. Thank you for all your thoughtful words. And Kay, too. After a month, I”ve been able to work on Bliss Bloss, but I am finding it difficult to keep track of the (simple) intarsia count. Today, after my massage, I’ll find my beige—probably white, maybe gray.
Ann, thank you for the beautiful simplicity of your message and the inspiration for a garter stitch scarf. We need this comfort and strength right now. And to Maggie P. for giving me the phrase “…cashmere words that touched my heart.”
Loved your Venice musings!!! Many thanks for sharing and inspiring me to do the same with beautiful yarn that’s been begging for hands on attention.
Enjoy a beautiful day!
Jeanne Stano
BRONXVILLE, NY
My family and I were just having the conversation that we are in a global economy and isolating the US from the world is ruining our economy and the economy of other countries. Raggedness is a perfect word. I am exhausted from worrying. Knitting is a means to make others happy, and we all need that. I am headed to Ireland in a week, and have plans to visit yarn stores. The tariffs on any purchases coming through customs is going to limit my spending. But the yarns you purchases as a tool for memories sound perfect. Thank you for putting into words what we all are thinking.
Ann and Kay, you embody everything I love about America. At the moment, as a Canadian, the world feels a little more jagged than ragged right now. But my knitting and the knitting community sort of pulls me together. We are indeed one world, one community. We all need to do what we can, individually and as part of the world. A garter stitch cashmere scarf seems like a perfect place to start.
Knitting is resistance to this impossible time we live in. We need to feed our joy while we protest in other small ways that are beyond our knitting.
Thank you, Ann. As I struggle to find my way during these dark times, the comfort community brings me courage, strength and hope!
*of community
Raggedy. The perfect word to describe the current situation
…a marvellous description of time,..the effects of rain..,the warmth of finding the shelter of a creative spot (of all places there and at that time ..in VENICE)..and the SIGHT of WOOL…waiting to be touched, creatively shaped by your hands into a marvellous wonder of WARMTH…to be treasured on your skin…and it will take you away from the thoughts of the present day world and what you canot or can do to save a bit of it..day by day…within and for our family of friends…..
It will carry with you the memories of the rainy day, the time and the Venetian shop on Calle de la Mandola..a moment, a day, never to be forgotten…you will carry it on your skin…for ever!
After a crochet lull of many years, this year I find myself wanting to make granny squares and just crochet all the time. The raggedy times we’re in, I think. Crochet is colorful, soothing, and simple, with just one stitch on the hook and gleeful ripping when I make a mistake, because somehow I always do. Thank you for this thoughtful piece and for this supportive community.
Ann, my husband and I traveled in Europe many years ago with a group of friends. We spent a day in Venice. I wish I had found your yarn store. It sounds like the place I would have liked to visit and shop.
Music, knitting, and reading are the sources of keeping me grounded. I also play the piano. Even in these perilous times, we must not lose hope. Sometime during the day, the Carolina Wren is singing somewhere close by. Sometimes it hops on my backyard steps so that I can see and hear him singing!! Blessings abounds – big and small.
I was lucky enough to have visited Lellabella as well, where I bought 3 beautiful skeins of Laines du Nord Poema Mohair in gorgeous colors! The lady helping me said each skein can be knitted into a scarf. I have the instructions she told me written on the skein label “US #5 needle / cast on 60 stitches” …. Can’t wait to get started on the scarves and stroll down memory lane while knitting. This article brought me such joy this morning. Thank you!
Amén
Well said, Ann. “What now?” seems to be the chorus in my thoughts as I work to distract myself with what I can do/control~knitting being one. Still, I am hopeful some how some way we will move through this division and chaos.
I’ve recently tried two places in Canada to purchase Peruvian filcolana. It was in stocks, ordered, and then I was notified that shipping was not an option.
Both establishments were so kind and apologetic but, now no yarn.
In the big scheme of things this is miniscule but, everything is coming “unraveled”!!.
What is the best way to join up when knitting in the round?
Please
What is the best way to join up when knitting in the round.
Please
Just do the stitch as it appears on your left needle, as you have been. A ring marker to mark “beginning of round” is useful.
Shepherds worldwide feel it too. Domestic fiber production right this minute in the fleece sorting and skirting phase, under the oak, in the shade with a light summer breeze and yesterday’s washed fleece drying in the nets on the line. A happiness of work, also providing time to reflect. Send out good intentions. Thank you Ann.
I wish world leaders could have the same respectful tone with each other that a knitting circle or the community in this comment chain has. Perhaps we need to teach the world to knit!
I respectfully beg to differ!
If world leaders did respond to one another like the knitting world does to anyone with an opposing view, we would be in WWXI by now.
I voted for Trump. I love most things he’s done. I’ve disliked some as well and I’m not ashamed or afraid to say so. It’s not disloyal, I just have my own personal God given views.
I’m not afraid of these tariffs because things will work out eventually. The Covid laws around the country took more of our rights away from us than these tariffs and only half the country complained. My half. My side. And look at the world now. We survived. You all still hate each other though. I don’t hate anyone. I respect a liberal but vehemently disagree.
The love won’t be returned from my post but it is late in the day and most commenters are knitting now.
Man, put down your phones. Turn off the news. Stop reading and watching social media.
We were a happier human race when we didn’t hate each other and politics has not changed since 1776. They were awful then and they’re awful now. Yet we survived.
We just need to stop letting all media mind F*** us. That’s what they’ve done.
Sounds fabulousio…! I’m a self taught knitter and three stitch crocheted who cannot (no matter numerous I’ve been shown) crochet a granny square!!!