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Here's what we've got for you today...
Knitspiration: The poetry of knitting socks
Stitchionary: A cable stitch that has heart
Pattern Pick: These socks are full of love
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Knitspiration
𧦠Ode to My Socks
Today is Valentine's Day.
A day to profess our love to those closest to us, to buy (or receive) fresh cut flowers, and have an excuse to indulge in a plate of chocolate covered strawberries.
Last week we discussed the origin and history of this holiday, so today I'd like to do something a little different.
Since today is all about love, and love is often professed through poetry, I began to wonder if anyone has written love poems about knitting.
To my surprise I found one by a Nobel Prize winning poet.
But before I share it with you let's give a little background.
Ancient Greek Theater of Dionysus
What is an Ode?
The ancient Greeks are credited with creating the ode; a type of lyrical poem expressing love and affection, often for some small thing.
There are three traditional forms of ode.
First is the Pindaric, which was originally a public poem set to music meant to celebrate the Gods and important events. These established the three parts of an ode consisting of the strophe, antistrophe, and epode.
The Horatian ode, named for the 1st century poet Horace, focused on more personal, philosophical, and emotional themes. It began the practice of regular 2 or 4 line stanzas and rhyming schemes, giving each section of the poem more structure.
Finally, during the Romantic Age, poets began to play with the form of the ode. This developed into the Irregular Ode, which doesn't follow any of the classical rules.
While there are modern examples of all these styles of poems, it is the last which many poets use most today.
That includes the famous Chilean writer and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda.
Who was Pablo Neruda?
Pablo Neruda was born Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes y Basoalto in 1904 in Temuco, Chile.
He adopted his famous pseudonym in his early teens, using it to get published in local papers and magazines.
After moving to Santiago in 1921, he wrote the work which he is best known for, 20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair. His writing mixed memories of past loves with those of the wilderness he grew up in.
βTraditionally,β stated Rene de Costa in The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, βlove poetry has equated woman with nature. Neruda took this established mode of comparison and raised it to a cosmic level, making woman into a veritable force of the universe.β
With the rise in his popularity, he was sent abroad as a consul for Chile. Unfortunately he was not prepared for the poverty and loneliness he experienced while traveling the far east. He was driven to political activism and became a fervent supporter of Communism.
It was not until the 1950s that he returned his focus to writing about love. His collection One Hundred Love Sonnets is considered some of the finest modern love poetry.
Only a fraction of Neruda's work has been translated to English from Spanish, but I came across one of his poems particularly suited to knitting...
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda
Mara Mori brought me a pair of socks which she knitted herself with her sheepherder's hands, two socks as soft as rabbits. I slipped my feet into them as if they were two cases knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin, Violent socks, my feet were two fish made of wool, two long sharks sea blue, shot through by one golden thread, two immense blackbirds, two cannons, my feet were honored in this way by these heavenly socks. They were so handsome for the first time my feet seemed to me unacceptable like two decrepit firemen, firemen unworthy of that woven fire, of those glowing socks. β Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation to save them somewhere as schoolboys keep fireflies, as learned men collect sacred texts, I resisted the mad impulse to put them in a golden cage and each day give them birdseed and pieces of pink melon. Like explorers in the jungle who hand over the very rare green deer to the spit and eat it with remorse, I stretched out my feet and pulled on the magnificent socks and then my shoes. β The moral of my ode is this: beauty is twice beauty and what is good is doubly good when it is a matter of two socks made of wool in winter.
Conclusion
I love how Neruda captures the conflict of wanting to keep his precious hand knit socks safe from the world but also honor their beauty through wearing them.
As knitters we don't often get the spotlight shone on us, or even recognized for the effort and love we put into our craft.
So today I hope you know that you are appreciated, and your knits are magnificent.
But what do you think?
Did you like this poem?
If you're a fan of poetry who is your favorite writer?
Hit reply and let us know your thoughts!
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Announcements
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The designer wanted to celebrate Valentineβs Day by making some cheerful and bright heart socks. With high expectations for gifts, romantic dinners and sweet gestures, this day can sometimes be met with disappointment and have people feeling left out.
But we should show love all year round to our loved ones, whether it be a kind message, a delicious homecooked meal or even better, a warm pair of hand-knit socks!
And why not show some self-love and make a gorgeous pair of these socks for ourselves, too?
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