The Magic of Yarn

What an amazing evening we had in Vermilion! Brenda, the owner of Cast On Yarn Shop invited me to an evening with the knitters to discuss my book, The power Of Knitting. I got there a bit early and I had a chance to meet Brenda and her assistant, a lovely lovely young lady, I also looked at the shop, at the wool, at the patterns and I was given as a present a beautiful yarn produced locally.

                  Even before people arrived and we began our talk, I felt I had known Brenda for a very long time, she reminds me of Cristina, my very good friend, the owner of Il Caffe’ dei Gomitoli in Bologna. The magic of yarn!

                  And so we started our conversation while the guests knitted along. And as often happens we all felt close to each other, ready to exchange ideas and stories. When I told them about the magic of the pioneer women circle, who knitted around the fire in the evening after their daily tasks had ended, and there under the stars of the American continent they communicate with each other using their stiches as they had no other language in common, we looked at each other and smiled, we are still doing it today.

                  I felt loved, accepted and respected by old friends. I do hope they felt the same because I miss them and I do hope I will be back soon.

                  There was also lots of joy in showing each other our knitting production and project, I even got presents from Brenda, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which I have taken along with me in the car the day after. In fact as I am driving on my may to Duluth they are still sitting in the bottle holder. One last day with them.

                  At the end of the talk Brenda asked me to tell everybody what we are doing and so it came out that we are travelling coast to coast to find out what is happening in this country. And my new friends are as confused as everybody else about it. They are concerned about the division, the dichotomy of the nation, the aggressive polarization of modern politics as I am. Knitting is all about connection, so it is natural that a knitter finds the way politics is conducted today alienating.

Here is what the Wall Street Journal wrote about its most recent survey of the voters in swing states:

The survey also shows that a campaign marked by bitter rhetoric, a switch of candidates atop the Democratic ticket and two assassination attempts on Trump have pushed Americans into their partisan corners, with neither candidate taking a meaningful share of voters from the other’s party. Trump, the former president, is holding 93% of Republicans across the seven states, while Harris, the vice president, retains 93% of Democrats.

                  I will write more about this topic during the journey, I am very interested in how knitters see the political situation and the election; in such a divisive world could knitter have a solution to find a bridge between the two parties and help rediscover bipartisan values?

                  I do hope so! And I would start from the knitters of Vermilion.

(Vermilion 7 Ottobre)