Sharp Notions: Essays from the Stitching Life

by Marita Dachsel (editor), Nancy Lee (Editor)

A wide-ranging anthology of personal essays
Sometimes, the reliability of a knit stitch, the steady rocking of a quilting needle, the solid structure of a loom, is all you have. During the pandemic, fiber arts newbies discovered and lapsed crafters rediscovered that picking up some sticks and string or a needle and thread was the perfect way to reduce stress, quell anxiety, and foster creativity, an antidote to endless hours of doom-scrolling.
Chances are you or someone close to you is currently in an ecstatic relationship with yarn, thread, or fabric. As we struggle with the pressures, anxieties, and impacts of daily life, fiber arts—knitting, crocheting, embroidery, weaving, beading, sewing, quilting, textiles—can be an antidote, a mirror and a metaphor for so many of life’s challenges. Part time machine, part meditation app, the simple act of working with one’s hands instantly reduces the overwhelming scope of living to a human scale and the present moment.
In this nonfiction anthology, writers and artists from different backgrounds explore their complex relationships to fiber arts and the intersection of creative practice and identity, technology, climate change, trauma, politics, chronic illness, and disability. 
In answer to the mainstream craft space’s tendency to centre the perspectives and careers of white women, Sharp Notions showcases Black, Indigenous, South-Asian, Chinese, and queer artists and makers and the cultural traditions of craft in diasporic communities.
  these powerful essays challenge the traditional view of crafting and examine the role, purpose, joy, and necessity of craft amid the alienation of contemporary life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Art

368 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2023

About the author

Marita Dachsel is the author of Glossolalia (Anvil Press, 2013), Eliza Roxcy Snow (rednettle press, 2009), and All Things Said & Done (Caitlin Press, 2007). Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry and the ReLit Prize and has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2011. Her play Initiation Trilogy was produced by Electric Company Theatre and featured at the 2012 Vancouver International Writers Fest. After many years in Vancouver and Edmonton, she and her family now live in Victoria.

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't do textile work, sew, quilt, knit or crochet. But I still loved this book, which consists of a wide variety of essays by women (and two men) who do fibre work. I learned a lot about fibre work, and what people derive from it. This book made me think a lot, and I think I handsold about 2-3 copies while I was reading it, because I kept on mentioning it to people.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s just two sticks and a string.” But, as the essays in SHARP NOTIONS: ESSAYS FROM THE STITCHING LIFE edited by Marita Dachsel & Nancy Lee show us, knitting and other forms of stitching can become so much more. A quilt storytelling an ocean to help a friend through unimaginable grief. Embroidery mailed back and forth between Nova Scotia and Ontario to bridge religious differences. An Antiques Roadshow episode’s relationship to Navajo textiles and heritage. Knuckles swollen from RA flares against bamboo, stitch after stitch to ease the pain of anticipatory loss. Black reclaimed space. Stitching can be slow, can at times be frustrating, can be done alone or together. It can be a reprieve from the demands of capitalism: “meditative, not productive.” SHARP NOTIONS crosses race, class, disability, religion, etc. to prove that a craft often demeaned as women’s work holds so much more meaning.

One of my signature outfits as a toddler was a large red sweater paired with a matching cap. My mother had hand-knitted the sweater when she was pregnant with me—she’d only been in America for a couple of years, having left everything she knew behind, and I’d like to imagine knitting brought her comfort. Years later, I would become so sick I couldn’t leave my bed for a while. In the beginning, I lay in bed, staring up at my ceiling, and then I began knitting and crocheting. First was a too-short scarf that my father could barely fit around his neck (less of me being bad at measurements and more of my lack of willpower to power through the last couple inches I had originally planned), then a hat for my sister, and then a whole series of amigurumi: giraffes, snails, and even Toothless the dragon. Stitching became a crip bed experience during a difficult time in my life.

Thanks so much Arsenal Pulp for gifting me such a special book.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This five-star rating is for all the essays I read (over half), primarily the ones clearly about quilting or embroidery. They were all by excellent and evocative writers, most of the writers with "day jobs" that are not in fibre arts. The call for writers went out in January 2022, so there are some references to the global pandemic. The diversity of life experiences and types of making add greatly to the book. If you are a "maker" or simply interested in how others think about their lives and creativity, you will find something in here to resonate with.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the different voices and type of handicraft they do; all very personal and a few sad stories. I enjoyed reading why and how each works with their hands, be it embroidery or beading, etc. I really would have like that along with each piece of writing, there were some pictures of the author's creations. That would have made the book complete.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wide variety of short stories. Some better than others. I will admit to stopping at the story about watching paint dry....I'm sure it is fine and meaningful, but I couldn't continue. Maybe I'll pick it up again later.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series of essays from various fiber artists (knitters, weavers, embroider-ers, quilter, etc.) Lovely, a great read for any fiber artist.

[Susan Gaston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, the stories and the heart. Going to suggest it to all my sewing and crafting buddies!

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Varied essays on fiber arts, both the actual work as well as the meaning derived from the work and the product.

[Shadoh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very beautiful cover drew me to this book.
I would like to have finished them all, no time.
Liked what I did read.

[Sandy Auld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful collection of short stories. I highly recommend.