Community

Just a few lines before I go catch my plane.

I had a dream last night that I had stopped to look at some sheep near some farm buildings and found that I had walked upon a co-op run by a religious community similar to the Amish. The women wore grey dresses and white linen caps; the men muted color shirts and dark trousers. They were in their twenties and were going to work to shepherd the sheep, process wool, and man the shop that attracted tourists. One of the women asked me if I had come to work. I told her, no, but I was interested in the fleece. "If you do some work for us, you can have some of the fleece." "Well, I know how to spin, but not very well." I found myself holding a bobbin of some of my handspun. She examined it and said, "I'll help you and you can spin yarn for us." There the dream ended.

It's the spirit of cooperation in this community we knitters and spinners have. Regardless of your age, those who know teach those who are learning. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, where you're from, or how old you are. If I have a skill that you want to learn, I'll show it to you. The art has been passed from generation to generation for centuries. We are continuing the passage of the art to keep it alive.

Someone told me there was a woman making incredible items in a small town in France. Her mother had taught her how to knit, passing on the knowledge that her mother had given her. The woman had no one to pass on the knowledge. She knit beautiful things to sell, items of her own design from patterns passed down through the ages. And there she sits kntting away with no one to pass on her knowledge to. When she dies, so will the thread.

Now that the knitting community has become international thanks to the Internet, this woman's knowledge need not die. The trouble is, I don't remember who told me this nor did I get the name of the town. I know people who could contact her. So I feel like I'm holding this fragile thread and my hand is shaking because I'm afraid that I will break it.

I had forgotten the woman, but thanks to this blog the memory returned. I will try to find her again. I will pass on the knowledge. My brother Grant and his wife were in France. I'll ask them if they were the ones who had found the woman.

Stay cool!