Knots in Thread

One night my husband marveled at some meticulous thing I was toiling over and said, “Its all knots in thread to me.” I laughed. I’d never thought of it that way before. But he was right: tatting, knitting, crochet, embroidery, weaving, sewing …all of it… simply various forms of knots in thread.

I realized that was the magic of it. One stitch at a time and a humble thread, yarn or reed grows in your hands, transformed into beautiful lace, a warm sweater, a sturdy market basket...whatever you might dream.

From the earliest humans who twined grasses to make rope snares to modern day bullet-proof vests or suspension bridges supported by plied wire – fiber technology has played, and continues to play, a huge role in human life. Beyond producing utilitarian items, the history of fiber arts includes thousands of years of textile innovation, ornamentation, phenomenal works of art, and fabulous costumes and fashion. I am lost in this world a lot.

As I was thinking of a name for my blog, I recalled that phrase and how I’d felt about it. There is excitement over the challenge of building something: concept, design, planning. There is pride in the precision of execution and creative use of materials. Best of all, there is contentment and joy in the knowledge that step by step, one stitch at a time, you can create something marvelous. It is that way in life, and I hope it will be with the posts in this blog.