It's Fall?

The leaves have turned color and are falling off the trees and yet it is over 70 degrees! Just a little warm spell for southern New England. I was very touched by the power of knitting today and thought it deserved sharing!

A customer and friend, Iris came into the shop today. I had helped her get in touch with Juli at Chiaogoo to ask them if they would donate needles for a wonderful cause. Juli, of course, stepped right up and asked how many pairs and what sizes Iris would need and a package shortly arrived.

Iris volunteers for REACH (Refuge, Education, Advocacy, Change), a battered women's program. Iris wanted to shared with me a story of one of the women she works with at the program about knitting. This was published in their Vol 6, Issue 2 - Fall 2010 issue. May you feel the powerful voice of "Tina'" and the joyous, positive process of building her life through knitting.

"I am taking a knitting class. It is through REACH and is quite simple: two sticks, string and knots. The finger placement can be cumbersome and holding those sticks isn't always easy. I can't seem to hold on to all the items and then recall which I do next, over or under? I call to Iris and Diane repeatedly, and they patiently show me. sometimes sitting down next to me and allowing me to duplicate their movements in tandem. I learn to do something and take it home. I knit or purl until I get confused because it doesn't look right. I put it down and wait until Monday when Iris tells me what it is and offers to do the dirty work of ripping out stitches. Once I dropped a stitch and Diane worked through the previous row to fix it for me.

The unobtrusive, non-abusive way of learning was unimaginable in my life prior to July 2007 when I put my abuser out of my life. My life expectancy was running out every minute being with him. Always full of criticism and harsh appraisals of my handiwork, even in areas where I really shine. His abusive tactics were undermining. They made me doubt myself and I became his staunchest supporter and most vocal ally of his assault on myself.

I really still can't quite grip how he did what he did, but I continue the process of ripping out old negative thoughts and dropping his derisive condemnation. Now as I knit. with every stitch I hear the positive voices of the knitting ladies. With repetition, their feedback will extinguish my self-critic, negate my negative neural pathways and become my own. - Tina "