Wrap and turn

Thanks to Bernie, I’m knitting again. I’ve been smitten by those mittens, and it’s time to share some love.

I’ve made things for people in the past. Fingerless gloves. The occasional scarf or wrap. Felted wool slippers I’ve gifted so many times the pattern is falling apart.

But when the gig economy calls, it’s hard to make time for knitting. It’s even harder when the world is falling apart.

We’ve been cooped up for nearly a year now. Entertaining ourselves somehow.

I’ve painted and practiced music. I’ve written for clients and my blog.

But any time I’ve tripped over the bags of yarns and needles in the basement, I’ve blocked out the urge to knit.

Until Bernie gave me hope.

After my last divorce, I spent hundreds of dollars at a time on a hobby I might never master. I bought skeins of angora and silk, and patterns too ambitious for my skill. Bamboo needles. A tiny pair of antique scissors, with handles of mother of pearl.

I spent hours at communal tables in the back of knitting shops, with women twice my age and grand daughters with no place else to go. Until finally the tools and the textures made sense. I learned to knit and to purl.

And for the slippers, I learned the wrap and turn—which is actually a simple thing.

You slide a stitch from one needle to the other, bring the working yarn forward, slide the stitch back over, and turn the work around.

Basically, it’s a strategy for changing direction. Perfect for a girl who was healing a broken heart.

And perfect for today.

It’s the last day of the first month of 2021. And we still have a tangled mess in our laps.

Vaccine distribution is stalled. New strains of the virus are here. Talk of unity is just talk.

But I’ve hauled up the bags of yarn from the basement and am sorting out colors and kinds. I think I’ve found enough of the right stuff to make the beau friend a pair of slippers that will not only fit him, but match.

I count my stitches and hope there’s enough yarn to finish the job.

And I hope the world will wrap and turn, and wrap and turn, and wrap and turn.

Until all is right again.