We all have tragedies, disappointments and bad times in our lives. Odds are a fair number of us have used knitting to help us get through those tough times. Doing something with your hands, making something beautiful and being able to focus on the stitches instead of whatever is wrong can be deeply comforting.
That truth is at the heart of Ann Hood's new novel, The Knitting Circle, a heartbreaking and heartwarming story about the power of knitting to save us.
Woman on the Verge
Mary Baxter had the perfect life: a good job writing features and reviews for the local alternative newspaper, a husband who loved her and a beautiful, vibrant, creative child to dote on, play with and love.
Her whole world dissolves, however, when her five-year-old daughter, Stella, dies from meningitis. She stops going to work while her husband, Dylan, buries himself in his work and anything that will get him away from the sadness of his home.
In the months after Stella's death, Mary's mother, also named Mary but known as Mamie, tells Mary she needs to learn to knit.
"There's something about knitting," Mamie tells Mary. "You have to concentrate, but not really. You keep your hands moving and moving and somehow it calms your brain."
Mary is skeptical but eventually goes to visit Big Alice's Sit and Knit to see what her mother was talking about.
Sit and Knit
Big Alice teaches Mary how to knit and invites her to join the knitting circle, a Wednesday night gathering of knitters. Mary is skeptical, but she goes in order to learn how to cast off.
She meets a group of women who make her feel more normal and safe than her "mommy friends." She doesn't know their stories and, more important, they don't know hers.
One woman, Scarlet, who owns a bakery in town, offers to teach Mary to purl. When Mary suggests it will be a long time before she's ready, Scarlet predicts it will only be a couple of days.
"'That's how it is at first,' she said, her voice low. 'You knit to save your life,' she said, like someone who knew," Hood writes. The truth is, she did know the pain Mary was going through and would soon share her story.
Sad Stories
Eventually Mary learns the stories of all the members of the knitting circle, as well as those of a man knitting a blanket for his dying lover and her own mother's story. These stories tell of tragedy, loss and suffering, the private battles everyone goes through.
But they also highlight the strange power of knitting to at least temporarily make things better. Many of these people came to knitting because of the horrors of their lives, while others who already stitched used knitting to get through unpleasant situations.
As Mary learns the stories of her circle, she finally sees that talking can be healing, too, and ultimately shares her story with the circle as well.
There is a lot of sadness in this novel, but also a lot of hope. The story illustrates that friendship (and knitting!) can get you through anything and reminds that you never know what's going on in another person's life, even if that person is supposed to be close to you.
This book is a quick read and you'll want to rush through to find out the stories of all these amazing, powerful women. They have looked pain and grief in the face and resolved to start living again, with the help of each other and the power of their needles. Ultimately, it is this uplifting message that will stay with readers.
