false 287014 0062512021 9780062512024 22 8 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676148m/287014.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287014.The_Knitting_Sutra_Craft_as_a_Spiritual_Practice 209581 Susan Gordon Lydon 113 23 0 2009-02-13T17:24:05-08:00 382851 165 2009-02-13T17:24:05-08:00 0 2009-01-27T14:24:51-08:00 316932 94 2009-01-27T14:24:51-08:00 0 2009-01-23T03:16:07-08:00 299661 53 2009-01-23T03:16:07-08:00 I am having a hard time reading this because it's a little too "Hallmark Moment" for me. 12 2009-01-05T02:34:30-08:00 232911 2009-01-08T01:08:32-08:00 44 2009-01-05T02:34:30-08:00 0 2008-12-30T03:45:58-08:00 213556 32 2008-12-30T03:45:58-08:00 2 4 false Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 30 03:45:41 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 13 18:24:42 -0800 2009 1
This is a tiny book and really should be read in one chunk some lazy afternoon while you sip hot tea. I made the mistake of reading a little section and then running away screaming. I think the thing I struggled with was the feel-good-tree-hugging-schizophrenic-menopausal-self-absorption that I kept seeing. Yeah. I developed a bit of an attitude problem with this book. Here is the thing. I am a knitter and I am obsessed. Today at work I finished a container of dried prunes (shut up - they are actually really sweet and tasty and I am trying to be HEALTHIER - ok?!?) and I looked at the container and thought it would be perfect for putting double point needles in. I think about knitting in the morning before work. (Should I knit with my coffee today? No - I am too tired - I will mess it up!) I talk about it with strangers at coffee shops and my co-worker. I come home and turn on my computer and go to "my" knitting sight. I lay in bed and think of patterns. You get the point here. (ha!) So when I picked up the book and read the title Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice I thought it would be more inclusive of other people besides the author. I was only a few pages in when I started feeling like this book was more like a therapy session slash journal entry with research done to boot. Instead of feeling inspired by what the author went through and the teachers she studied with I felt like she was kind of whining about things and too self-absorbed to include her readers in on how her experience relates to them too.

There was the occasional antidote that was relatable - but really it felt like this was one woman’s life story told through the metaphor of knitting with A LOT of religious (mostly Native American and Eastern Religious thought) thrown in to try and force a sense of inclusion.

But I did walk away from this book with a few things. The first thing I got was a good conversation with my husband about how through a craft you are connecting to a culture or an ancestry or even just a single designer of a pattern in a much more dimensional way then we could through just talking to them or knowing of there existences. When I work a knitting pattern I get a sense of the person who wrote it. Usually I pick the pattern for aesthetic value - which means I am already sharing something with the designer. Then I read it to see if I am up to the challenge and if I speak the same language as the author. Then I pick out my yarn and begin working it. There are certain designers who just feel so cold and presumptuous in their patterns. (I can't tell you how often I get excited by a pattern only to be crushed when I see that the designer included crochet instructions for parts of the pattern. And as brilliant as Debbie Bliss is her patterns leave me kind of cold.) Sometimes while working the pattern I see the humor of the author (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) and sometimes I see how very clever they are. You have to trust the designer to be able to tell you in written word how to do something that is not natural and that you are intimidated by. And when you finish and are successful you like the designer. And if you finish and realize there is an error in the pattern you feel sad and betrayed. (I am looking at you Lion Brand web site!)

Recently my mom gave me some patterns from her basement as she was cleaning and included are some patterns in my great grandma's writing. I feel a NEED to do these patterns even though I have no need for the product. I just want to walk in her shoes and feel the connection.

And I have to say the last couple of chapters in the book were a bit more relatable. Chapter 10 is called Dreaming of Dragons and she talks about this sweater that was insanely hard to make and had dragons all over it and it was just evil to make. But she was driven. She was compelled. She was determined. And she talked about why and I got it. I understood. Ah ha!

There is also a quote (the book is full of homilies and paragraphs destined for cross stitch samplers) that REALLY spoke to me. It's on page 145 and here it is:

Letting go is the lesson. Letting go is always the lesson. Have you ever noticed how much of our agony is all tied up with craving and loss?

I read that and went WHOA. YEAH. It was my moment. 145 pages in and months of wrestling with this book and it got me. I finally had a moment that made me read and reread something over and over and then stare into space and reflect. DAMN. It totally got me.

So in the end I have to show the book a little respect. I can't say I liked it, but it was ok. ]]>