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Shetland Eyelet Lace
Object ID 2020.1.316
Barbara,1 I stitched this swatch from the after
life of Shetland eyelet lace, a remnant
knit to be shifted by environment,
bloom slips of sea mayweed, sheep’s bit, lady’s
smock wrapped in wool thin as hair.2 The scholars
will say time erodes presence,3 it corrodes
groatie buckie, pelican’s foot, yellow
whelk. I am always more than three miles
from the sea, I have no maakin belt tied
no basket held on my back, but yarrow
and thyme grow hardy in my garden plot,
worms tunnel soil where my lived gesture
recites knit one, knit two together, yarn
over (dropped), sedimented over time.
Single Eyelet Rib
Object ID: 2020.1.85
Barbara,4 I am one of the hanks
spun at the wool farm tamed,
worked like lace like strawberry
dress like summer wrap around neck
-ercheif. I am an open work broad
rib5 with low spring elastic eyelet.
Maybe I breathe! Maybe I work
in tight and fast 6 rows, click
the stitch counter clickclick,
slip the marker. *knit two together,
yarn over, knit one, yarn over, slip
slip knit, purl two; repeat from *
Broken Stitch Counter
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1 “Shetland Eyelet Pattern” from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. Pg 179
2 Mann, Joanna. “Knitting the archive: Shetland lace and ecologies of skilled practice” in Cultural Geographies Vol 25 No 1, 2018.
3 Mann, Joanna. “Knitting the archive: Shetland lace and ecologies of skilled practice” in Cultural Geographies Vol 25 No 1, 2018.
Image credit: Sauer, Mary from “Single Eyelet Rib” from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. Pg 46, using chart-minder.com
4 “Single Eyelet Rib” from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. Pg 46
5 Bradley, Nancy. Single eyelet rib. Knitted textile recreated for the Barbara Walker Swatch Collection at BLUE: The TATTER Textile Library. 2020. Entry/Object ID 2020.1.85
6 Bradley, Nancy. Handwritten note accompanying knitted textile recreated for the Barbara Walker Swatch Collection at BLUE: The TATTER Textile Library. 2019. Entry/Object ID 2020.1.85
Mary is a poet, short story writer, and knitter from Kansas City where she works with the Kansas City Monuments Coalition. She is a Best Small Fictions nominee and her work has been published or is forthcoming in Timber, Pleiades, coastlines, HAD, Tyger Quarterly, Seam Allowance, and Amenia Free Review.