Not only do I love to knit, but I enjoy to reading about the craft and the people who do it. Peggy Orenstein's book, Unraveling: What I learned about life while shearing sheep, dyeing wool, and making the world's ugliest sweater, ticked all the boxes for me. During the pandemic, Orenstein found the constraints of lockdown a challenge and sought a project to fill her time, and challenge her own creative process through her love of knitting. 
Baby blanket
This book is part memoir, part history lesson, part how-to, and a love story with fiber. My lockdown experience was very different from Orenstein's. I was one of those teachers who were faced with the challenge of engaging my learners from a distance. I was learning new tech platforms, how to make my own lecture videos, design assignments that would be both challenging and meaningful, emailing students who were not engaging with their school work, and spending long hours creating lesson plans. One thing I wasn't doing was creating any of my mixed media artwork. In that department I was in a creative drought, however, I was still knitting. I spent lots of time knitting baby blankets for coworkers who were expecting or to donate to Project Linus.
On her travels, much done via Zoom, to learn about the process of shearing a sheep to knitting a sweater, she met a variety of passionate people who shared their stories, as well as, their expertise. Many of these people found themselves turning away from previous careers to pursue a more creative path through working with the land (shearers, growers of plants for dyeing) or creating (pattern designers, fiber artists, or store owners that cater to makers). I can now include myself among their ranks. The pandemic was just one thing that contributed to my decision to leave teaching.
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| Teapot Cozy |
A key theme running through the book is the role of women in the process of creating fiber and the products from it. Making thread/yarn by hand is a time consuming task that could be done between other chores. Children were often enlisted to help with carding wool. Industrialization came and all of that changed. When that happened women lost their role and much of their own autonomy and income. Where do you think the term "spinster" comes from? Unmarried women had a way to earn an income through their cottage industries, and not be deemed a burden.
The dyeing of yarn and fabrics have a long history tied to the botany of the regions where they were produced. Plants and insects provided the source material of the dyes that were produced in cauldrons. Again women were often the ones planting, harvesting, drying, and preparing the dyes from the knowledge that they developed themselves or was handed down to them from their mothers or grandmothers. Orenstein reflects on the term 'crone', a woman over 50 (of which I am one), and the power that these women have in society. We women, who have reached this age, are pretty dangerous. We've seen some s**t during the course of our lives. We've got skills. We've lost our filters and speak out. We act.
The idea that little old ladies sit about with their knitting is just one way that we move stealthily through society. "Her innocuousness could be her superpower, allowing her to slip the bonds of feminine constraint. 'Craft' also evokes the witch in us: the secret lore passed from mother to daughter; ancient sources of authority, of authenticity, so dangerous they could get women burned at the stake." (page 146-7) This is probably why one of my favorite fictional characters is Agatha Christie's, Miss Marple. She sits there quietly, knitting a sweater for her nephew, while listening to the gossip, watching for facial and body language tells, slowly piecing all the knowledge and clues together to catch the killer.
Follow for more Knitting related book review to come. Read On! Knit On!!
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