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?”