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Knitting Poetry – Winding Wool

by

Winding Wool

 

by Robert Service

 

She’d bring to me a skein of wool

And beg me to hold out my hands;

so on my pipe I cease to pull

And watch her twine the shining strands

Into a ball so snug and neat,

Perchance a pair of socks to knit

To comfort my unworthy feet,

Or pullover my girth to fit.

 

As to the winding I would sway,

A poem in my head would sing,

And I would watch in dreamy way

The bright yarn swiftly slendering.

The best I liked were coloured strands

I let my pensive pipe grow cool . . .

Two active and two passive hands,

So busy winding shining wool.

 

Alas! Two of those hands are cold,

And in these days of wrath and wrong,

I am so wearyful and old,

I wonder if I’ve lived too long.

So in my loneliness I sit

And dream of sweet domestic rule . . .

When gentle women used to knit,

And men were happy winding wool.

Source 

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

Comments

  1. “Winding Wool” made me homesick and left a tear on my cheek. There is no reason for that still, simple, lifestyle to be gone. A path way has to exist, to have Robert Service’s words not to be lost in living rooms and kitchens; for us to enter again. Knitting is peaceful and loving. Keeping the family warm, home cooked suppers, the kids asleep, and husband and wife love and respect each other; their house is in order and their values are straight.
    In the poem, so plain, yet so perfect are wise words. “Winding Wool” is a yearning for days gone by and people that have passed. A beautiful tribute to wool and knitting. I really was touched and I want that time back, once more.
    Thank-you, Robert

  2. I can remember my mom and dad both talking about doing this back in the days before “pull skeins”. They’d sit on my mom’s front porch and dad would hold out his hands with the yarn wrapped around them and mom would wind away. Of course, if it were a Sunday and Mom’s grandmother came walking up the hill, they’d have to stash the yarn and needles under the cushions on the swing. There was absolutely no knitting, crocheting or sewing on Sundays.

    Mom and Dad are both gone now ~ Mom before Dad. But this little poem brought back some fond memories and gave me a few tears.

    Thank you for posting this.

  3. I just love this site , I have learned a lot from it!
    It’s so interesting and full of ideas ! Keep them coming please !!!!

    whoknits

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]