The Lion's Pride vol. 3 (Feb. 2015) | Page 5

The Magic of Yarn, the Magic of Life Ye Xu I had been a Chinese language teacher for 12 years before I came to the United States. I like Chinese culture and teaching very much, but my favorite hobby is doing craft, especially knitting. I learned knitting since I was 5 years old and all of my knitting experiences came from my grandma, who still knitted 5 years ago. She can’t knit anymore, but what she said about knitting will be remembered in my whole life. When I was a little girl, my grandparents lived with us. I always saw my grandma knitting with two long bamboo needles, and every time I asked her, “What’s this?” She smiled and told me, “It’s magic.” I couldn’t remember how long it lasted, but one day, I saw the yarn turn into a beautiful sweater, I was so excited and shouted, “Yeah, yeah, it’s magic!!!” My grandma smiled and said, “Yes, It’s magic, just like life.” I couldn’t understand it, but I was eager to learn how to knit after that. As you know, talking is much easier than doing, so I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. Sometimes I dropped a stitch, sometimes there was a stitch that came out unexpectedly. I was so mad about it and threw it all away. My grandma came beside me and asked, “Do you remember why you wanted to learn knitting?”