"Window shopping in the general sense did not interest Miss Marple, but she had a splendid time rounding up knitting patterns, new varieties of knitting wool, and suchlike delights." At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
"It amazed Joanna that Kate, who could embroider so beautifully and meticulously, who was so clever about colour and design when these concerned needlework, seemed incapable of the proper presentation of either food or herself."
Picking Up the Pieces by Mary Sheepshanks
"What a benison water is,...whether we drink it, wash in it, swim in it or simply stand and stare at it...it has the power to refresh, to soothe, and to exhilarate." Changes in Fairacre by Miss Read
"The human desire to build labor-intensive objects for no particular utilitarian need is an incredible force. It supercedes questions of quality; it merely is. Often we make for the experience of making, and not for the finished object at all...and yet, there will often be an object at the end of the process. That object is loaded for the maker, as evidence of a goal pursued and met (or not met). More amazing still, the object lives on after the maker dies, and then loved ones must grapple with the meaning of keeping it, giving it away, or selling it." Mary Smull - Philadelphia, PA in Letters to Editor, FiberArts Summer 2010
"I think knitting is one of the most pleasurable of all crafts, no machinery, no strenuous physical exercise, can be picked up any time. You can even learn to do other things at the same time, like reading or watching TV. Marvelous craft for the lazy person like me." Dorothy Reade (1908-1985)
"And snatching two knitting needles from Miss Clare's lap, he set them crosswise on the carpet and executed a lively sword dance, complete with triumphant, blood-curdling cries, much to the delight of the ladies." Storm in the Village by Miss Read
"I find it rather dull work spending an afternoon with old ladies who do nothing but knit and have but little to talk about." Henrietta McGuffey Hepburn "Piecework" Nov/Dec 2009
"Mrs. Straw was on duty, seated on the bench under the sycamore, sedulously knitting something in a revolting shade of green."
Diamond Solitaire by Peter Lovesey
"I never doubted that for my mother the doing was more important than the usefulness of what she made, whether it was needlework or wine or jam making. If the products found a useful end, so much the better, but in the meantime, her boundless nervous energy somehow found a calming outlet in exacting occupations." Nell Znamierowski on her mother, Helen. "Piecework" special Ellis Island Issue Sep/Oct 1996
"So what have I said? That we live in a precarious world; that we are threatened by man's ingenuity; that we need a less consumptive lifestyle in order to preserve the beauty and grace of our world; and that our remaining wild places, our wilderness, have to be a most important element in all our thinking and all our doing." Mardy Murie
"His lordship stepped accordingly into the sitting-room, where he found Mrs. Strachan seated by the window instructing her small daughter Myra in the art of plain knitting." The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery
"Betty was something of an expert knitter and was only interested in making things that required at least four needles working in tandem. When she came to live at Cawdor she became a one-woman production line of ornately decorated kilt socks. My grandfather would have been the envy of a sock fetishist, with a never-ending supply in every shade of the spectrum." A Charmed Life: Growing Up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell
"She was knitting a pair of woollen socks in bright red which Dalgliesh could only hope were not intended for him. " Unnatural Causes by P.D. James
"I like a string turning into something, but I like string all by itself. I like a ball of yarn even if nothing gets made of it." Knitting in America by Deborah Newton
"The pattern was intricate, involving sixteen rows to each feather-and-shell design. Executed in pale pink three-ply wool it had taken Miss Fogarty many hours of fiddling work - and some unpicking - to complete the garment..." "The Sad Affair of the Bedjacket" in Battles at Thrush Green by Miss Read
1 comment:
How lovely! Merry Christmas.
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