Knit to share

Like so many others, I started knitting again when my mother's health started to fail. Keeping her company in hospital rooms, I wanted to keep my attention focussed on her needs, but I also needed something to do as well. Reading was difficult; my attention was often interrupted. So I decided to knit. I soon learned that I wasn't alone in this decsion. One day, as I was looking at yarn in my local yarn shop another woman walked in. "My mother is in the hospital and I thought I could knit while I keep her company," she said. "I haven't done it in years...."

Yes, knitting is a good thing to do. It is comforting to the knitter and, I think, also to the person in the hospital bed. It's something familiar from home and a point of conversation about something non-medical. In the hard, prickly world of medicine, the knitting project is a wispy gentleness that can be brushed against a cheek, something impossibly soft and pliant for fingers to squeeze, and a pattern that is easily recognizable. It is momentary order in Chaos.


I like to share my knitting. I'm not perfect at it and I don't do complex patterns anymore. But I spend hours working my hopes and feelings into each scarf or hat. I suppose, I hope that the scarves I sent to the Think Pink Challenge--a link is provided below--will bring a moment of comfort to the women battling breast cancer.