Knitstory 4: Kathy's Story

Here is KathyKOL's contribution to the Knitstory Project.  Kathy is the founder of the Out Loud audiobook company, and also maintains her blog, Knitting Out Loud.

I was taught to knit by my German grandmother, who escaped from Germany just before WWII. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever known, elegant and dignified, and a Freudian psychoanalyst. I was a little afraid of her. Knitting was the only domestic thing she did. She knit almost all of her clothes (suits, dresses, coats, many of which I now have), and she knit all day long while she listened to her patients. Freud’s daughter Anna was a famous knitter, and many of the women psychoanalysts knit. I knit off and on for many years, and ended up living in Maine. Maine is the perfect knitting state, I think of it as a wooly state, lots of wonderful fiber here! I started a literature program in the public schools, telling the major stories of western literature (Odyssey, Hamlet etc), bringing objects from the period for kids to touch, maps to color, art to look at, clothing to try on. This program was funded by a company which, after 10 years, was bought by another one not interested in local affairs, and the funding ended. While I was thinking what I would do next, I went to a yarn shop to buy some yarn - and oh my goodness!!! The explosion of varieties and colors was amazing! I was hooked. Then I went to the library and came home with armloads of knitting books. I loved them, but what I loved most was the stories of knitting in them. An author would tell her/his personal knitting story in the Introduction. I started reading histories of knitting. Heaven! Then I found a book which was all knitting stories. It was Knitting Lessons, by Lela Nargi. Lela Nargi lives in Brooklyn and on 9/11 wandered into her local yarn shop and saw women there who had walked across the bridge from Manhattan after the disaster and were quietly knitting. She decided to talk to knitters across the country to find out why they knit and what it means to them. I loved this book, but it made me want to knit. I thought it should be on audio, so I could knit and listen. So I started the audiobook company Knitting Out Loud. It is a labor of love. I believe profoundly in the value of these stories. They are the small stories of life, the stories in which we share our joy and our sorrow, and through them we learn from each other how to get through life. I believe in the significance and value of the small everyday things we do (I also love to cook and garden). Because life is very hard, we need that little bit of joy, calm, centering, everyday. Just looking at yarn makes me happy. And when I am stressed during the day, I pick up my knitting and knit a few rows. Knitting is different from any other activity I do, not sure why, but it is intensely comforting.