fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Knitting Yarns at Woodstock’s Golden Notebook

by Ann Hutton
April 1, 2016
in Books, Entertainment
1

knitting nuns @They say that knitting is making a comeback. For some of us, it never went away – rather, it got stuffed into a bag and buried deep in the spare room closet, where it waited. Knitting knows that we will one day be re-snagged by the impulse to pull it out, by which time the project we were attempting might have gone out of style, or we’ve put on too much weight or…whatever. Knitting is patient. Whether we’ve succeeded in ever finishing something or failed miserably, it knows that our deepest desire is to try again.

In her wisdom, eager knitter and author Ann Hood (The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, Comfort, The Obituary Writer) has collected stories describing how knitting helps us to heal and grow, how the challenge of learning something new forces us to stretch our brains and take charge of our hand/eye coordination, how love can be embedded in every stitch. Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting is an anthology of 27 accounts of what knitting means to each writer. Vivid memories of being taught to knit by a strict Irish aunt, or attempting to teach someone else and having to let go of the need for perfection, or poignant and painful associations made during a period of furious knitting: 27 voices proclaim their intimate details with knitting.

Hood came to knitting to undo grief at the death of her young child. Her “Ten Things I Learned from Knitting” covers that and a colorful array of simple life lessons that she discovered in the process.

In “Looped Yarn,” Martha Frankel bargains with Fate to save her friend – the woman who taught her to knit – who is careening headlong into a cult. In full magical-thinking mode, Frankel imagines that if she can finish five scarves in time, her friend will come to her senses. She learns that sometimes even completed projects won’t do the trick.

Joyce Maynard fondly reminisces how her mother produced a miniature sweater for a thumb-sized Teddy bear using toothpicks as needles. In her story “Straw into Gold,” Maynard recounts her mother’s abundant capabilities, set against the frustrations typical for women of her generation, and the way in which she “channeled all her big, wild talents and burning ambitions through something as rudimentary as a pair of knitting needles.”

In “The Supernatural Power of Knitting,” Alison Lurie reports tidbits of history wherein knitting was integral. She notes famous paintings such as Young Knitter Asleep, by the 18th-century French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, in which even young children can be seen busily knitting. Lurie talks about the moral distinctions between knitting and crocheting, indicating how in 19th-century literature, good women knit and bad women crochet. Virtuous women were always knitting socks for the war effort, while the frivolous ones made doilies.

Knitting Yarns is a veritable literary knitting circle. The list of contributors includes Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Andre Dubus III, Sue Grafton, Anita Shreve and many more. Also included are five original knitting patterns created by Helen Bingham.

Meet Ann Hood and Martha Frankel at the Golden Notebook on Tinker Street in Woodstock on Saturday, December 7 at 4 p.m. Bring your knitting.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Mill House Brewing Company opens its doors in Poughkeepsie

Next Post

SUNY-New Paltz stages Shakespeare’s Tempest

Ann Hutton

Related Posts

Dozens of activities for all ages in Ulster County this week
Community

Dozens of activities for all ages in Ulster County this week

May 31, 2023
Local author serves useful advice for overcoming eating disorders
Books

Local author serves useful advice for overcoming eating disorders

May 18, 2023
World-renowned poet to perform in West Hurley this weekend
Books

World-renowned poet to perform in West Hurley this weekend

May 18, 2023
New cookbook from Hudson Valley chef/entrepreneur brings Indian cuisine to the mainstream
Books

New cookbook from Hudson Valley chef/entrepreneur brings Indian cuisine to the mainstream

May 4, 2023
Cole All-Star Circus returns to Ulster County May 6
Entertainment

Cole All-Star Circus returns to Ulster County May 6

April 29, 2023
Hudson Valley roller derby team returns after three years off the rink
Entertainment

Hudson Valley roller derby team returns after three years off the rink

April 28, 2023
Next Post

SUNY-New Paltz stages Shakespeare’s Tempest

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • Victim’s mother was assured by Kingston school officials that her son would be safe, notice of claim now entered against the district 3.6k views
  • Who’s to blame for Kingston’s inadequate playing fields? Just ask the parents 842 views
  • Pride reaffirmed in New Paltz 729 views
  • At iPark 87, things do seem different this time 427 views
  • Vintage baseball game in Hudson Valley will play by 1800s rules 332 views
  • In a push for affordable housing, Metzger proposes a $15-million fund   321 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
59°
Clear
5:22 am8:25 pm EDT
Feels like: 59°F
Wind: 0mph E
Humidity: 94%
Pressure: 29.96"Hg
UV index: 0
SatSunMon
72/46°F
73/46°F
73/50°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing