The Friday Night Knitting Club

The thing is, that when you're young, you always think you'll meet all sorts of wonderful people, that drifting apart and losing friends is natural. You don't worry, at first, about the friends you leave behind. But as you get older, it gets harder to build friendships. Too many defenses, too little opportunity. You get busy. And by the time you realize that you've lost the dearest best friend you've ever had, years have gone by and you're mature enough to be embarrassed by your attitude and, frankly, by your arrogance.

And there's always a better time than right now and there always will be. But right now is what we've got.

Cat, I'll let you in on a little secret. We don't all love our jobs every day. And doing something you have passion for doesn't make the work part of it any easier...It just makes you less likely to quit.

There's money, and then there's class. The two are often separated.

So this was it. You take a wrong step and you end up wearing yesterday's underwear, sitting on the carpet trying to teach yourself how to knit. And even that doesn't work. She never expected it to be so hard. Life.

We don't always get what we deserve," she replied, patting James over his heart. "Sometimes we get more; sometimes we get less. At least we get something.

It gave her a feeling of her own power, to make something practical and beautiful just by using her own skill and creativity. It inspired her.

And failure, if you want to know, Dakota, is just another opportunity to try again.

I believe sometimes medical issues just happen--they're not cosmic tests; they're not retribution for all the naughty things you've done over a lifetime. It's not some moral righting of the universe. It's just something going wonky with the wiring...And I think God cries when we're in pain; he cries with us and he supports us. But I also believe he stands back and lets us sort things out. Lets the doctors do their work. Lets your body heal itslef.

Better to live your life open rather than exist on borrowed time, waiting for the great unmasking.

It's a scary thing, when a person you admire is suddenly revealed to be absolutely, truly human.

Especially in a world that doesn't need homemade anything.That's when we need homemade everything.

All you have to do is forgive.

knit and purl These stitches are the fundamentals of knitting and are the basis of every garment. The knit stitch is a series of flat, vertical loops that produces a knitted fabric face and the purl stitch is its reverse. One side is smooth, the other bumpy. Knit is what you show the world; purl is the soft, nubbly underside you keep close to the skin.

...you are the kind of person that sears into the soul. I have never been able to get you out of my mind.

Knitting had done more than provide her with a living; it had soothed her soul through more struggles than she could count.

But it’s better to loosen up as you go or you risk turning brittle.

but there was something so significant about being able to make a gorgeous item of clothing from almost raw materials. It gave her a feeling of her own power, to make something practical and beautiful just by using her own skill and creativity. It inspired her.

Stress is not about the situation, my dear, it's about the person. There's some who can handle it and there's some who can't.

Starting again: there's a secret hope that makes you hold on, to dream that you'll get it right someday, that you'll go back and take it up again and it will finally come out right. That this time all the pieces will fit. The mistake is waiting until you feel renewed enough to give it another try. You simply have to pick up the needles and keep at it anyway.