The Threads

~ alexandradane2014

A baby sweater. A yarn snob. A photo of the baby in the heirloom sweater. And a business was born @adaneknits.

But I get ahead of myself. This was thirty years in the making.

Today I submitted a query to Interweave Knitting, pitching for a piece that stories the first time I picked up knitting needles on the fourth floor of Swedish Hospital while my mom was dying.

I taught myself to knit, turn, purl, cast on, cast off under the florescent lighting. I focused on my hands. The panic was kept at bay. Fundamentals of knitting fiber together turned out to be the fundamentals of holding myself together.

I will let you know if the essay lands anywhere. And if it doesn’t I will post it here.

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Published by alexandradane2014

Alexandra Dane writes what lies deep in the marrow of our bones: life, disease, memory and hope — always hope. Winner of the Annie Dillard Creative Non Fiction award from The Bellingham Review in 2023, Alexandra Dane is also published in River Teeth, San Fedele Press’s American Writers Review and Two Hawks Quarterly among others. Her manuscript-in-progress explores coming of age, twice, at the mercy of cancer; once as a young caregiver for her mother and then as a patient herself. She explores the tiny big things that happen at www.alexandradanewrites.com. Mother of three, Alexandra Dane writes by the sea and when stuck, makes cake.

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