Knitter

When something happy happens anywhere in the world, we can all share the joy.

I recently came across a small news item on my daily Dutch News computer site. “Rotterdam neighborhood pays tribute to prolific knitter,” the headline read. Starting in 1955, Loes Veenstra started knitting sweaters (jumpers). To date she has knitted 500 of them. None had ever been worn. Artist and designer Christien Meindertsma came across the sweaters, photographed them for a book and made a short celebratory film. The residents of Loes Veenstra’s neighborhood wear her vividly colored and patterned sweaters in the video as they pay her tribute. It is hard to view this vignette and not smile. (Link below)

As a small girl, I yearned to learn how to knit. My mother was not a practitioner of needle arts, so I asked my most patient grandmother to teach me. Despite her valiant efforts, I only created knots, tangles, dirty yarn and missed stitches. After hours of lessons, grandmother and I concluded that I was not destined to be a knitter. But to this day I tell my art students that “art is much more than painting. Art includes many creative endeavors such as music, dance, theater, graphic design, photography and needlework.”

Cheers to all of you who knit!

Video is here.

 

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5 thoughts on “Knitter”

  1. Mary–I don’t see you as a knitter, either. That’s because I’ve tried it and know that one has to do sensible things such as count . . . things that you & I can’t be bothered to do . . .your mind is much more nimble than mine, but basically you and I work the same way . . .

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  2. Thanks for sharing this. I love how the face of the knitter just blooms by the end of the video. Also, it made me cry worse than a Hallmark commercial!

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