Jasmine Tea

Emily Dickinson’s thoughts conveyed in her poetry are like gorgeous gems, drops of dew that reflect just a hint of the color of the rose, or like the glimmer of the sky on the face of a pristine lake. Her thoughts about nature, the delicate but equally intense flutterings within the human heart, the pondering and wondering thoughts of the philosopher and yet questions so ordinary and common to the child-like ‘why’ are sustained by observations and insights into human nautre that remind you how to be child-like again and aspire lofty thoughts one may drowned out but all want to consider in our ho-hum daily routine.

If what we see as nature looks more like the crackled patterns of gray pavement, the shadows of skyscrapers, and the web of the spider over a windowsill flower pot, Emily Dickinson’s poetry opens the window into a different landscape where the imagination is once again united with the fanciful flights of the most ordinary and yet the most sublime landscapes of earth and sky.

All to say, Emily Sickinson’s poetry refreshes the spirit as a dredge of water on a hot day and yet makes you thirst for more. Why do we allow ourselves to live in a drought of beauty and all that is uplifting from the trenches of daily life and its cares?

Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s Preface to her poetry describes her with liberal generosity: “In many cases these verses will seem to the reader like poetry torn up by the roots, with rain and dew and earth still clinging to them, giving a freshness and a fragrance not otherwise to be conveyed… But the main quality of these poems is that of extraordinary grasp and insight, uttered with an uneven vigor sometimes exasperating, seemingly wayward, but really unsought and inevitable…

Quoting Ruskin he concludes, “No weight nor mass nor beauty of execution can outweigh one grain or fragment of thought.” 

I don’t know why I wanted to learn how to knit. Nobody in my family knew how. The first memories of seeing women work with their hands was my friend’s mom who brought her cross-stitch to pass time during ballet lessons or another mom who passed time with cross-stitch during piano lessons. But I have no memory of seeing anybody knit. Nontheless, one Sunday drive home from church, my mother found me pretending to knit with chopsticks. Coincidentally, a knitting shop had recently opened in our small town and she got me into a knitting class with the owner for my tenth birthday. At the time, knitting was considered a dying art and I was affectionately nick-named ‘Granny’ amongst my general family.

For some it was a novelty to see me knit but for me I loved the stories that the textiles told about the people, the things they loved, the things they did and the way they did them. I was intrigued by the pictures and an article on the history of the thimble. Beautiful and delicate flowers and things embellished the small sewing tool into anything but ordinary. I enjoyed a season of hunting antique stores with my Grandmother looking for antique and embellished thimbles.

For a period, I was looking at the history of tapestries and the romantic side of the Medieval women weaving in the great castles with colorful flowers, animals and tales of heroic virtue. When I was in college and we were roaming about the Luvre Museum I was struck with wonder as I recognized the huge tapestries hanging on the stone walls and I recalled looking at them years ago in my library books.

I found a treasure of a different sort and much closer to my heart when my grandmother came across an old linen made my great grandmother. It was torn and stained with age but it still held its charm. It told the story of a time when colorful thread was too expensive to buy and how my great-grandmother created a piano cover out of the little bits of colors she had lying around to decorate her home.

Knitting has an interesting appeal. Growing up, I appreciated the feeling of having a past time that was also productive. Knitting isn’t a waste of time. But now that my time is much more limited, I find myself trying to decide which ‘past time’ I want to do when a little free time comes my way. I usually find myself at an impass: should I cook, read, draw, or knit? These days, when some free time opens up, I’ve turned to knitting because it satisfies my own enjoyment of making something beautiful, of the logical pattern built with and into yarn, and of the simple treat of sipping a cup of tea and working with my hands.

The knitting store in town didn’t stay in business more than a couple of years and most of what I learned about knitting came from reading patterns. Many of my projects have been trial and error learning. My mother sewed for me all growing up and both of us learned the joy and sorrow or ripping out what didn’t fit or follow the pattern. I frequently attempted lace and ripped out probably more than I really ever made progress. A few projects were knitted successful only to dissapoint by their fit. These days I’ve found a better collection of knitting patterns to enjoy and I’ve learned a thing or two about construction and tips that make a nicer finished garment.

The stories that my hands will tell are in the making.

Hello! I’m Rachel and I work full time with Youth With A Mission in Madison, WI. I love conversation and tea! I hope you do too. So pull up a chair and enjoy browsing my thoughts about God, people and missions plus the things I enjoy through food, books and knitting.