91 Quotes by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

The rules of Canadian engagement say that if we encounter a celebrity, we have to pretend we’re not encountering a celebrity.

I am so uncoordinated that it’s as if the day they were handing out physical prowess I was distracted at the fine motor skills wicket, probably by a knitting pattern, and missed out completely on whatever it is that lets people do standing-up things with their bodies.

A home without books is a body without soul.

I do know that there isn’t ever going to be a time when there aren’t any knitters.

Even if he doesn’t know a cable from a bobble, my mate can be my biggest cheerleader.

Some knitters say that they buy yarn with no project in mind and wait patiently for the yarn to “speak” to them. This reminds me of Michelangelo, who believed that every block of stone he carved had the statue waiting inside and that all he did was reveal it. I think I’ve had yarn speak to me during the knitting process, and I’ve definitely spoken to it. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong, or maybe my yarn and I aren’t on such good terms, but it really seems to me that all I say is “please” and all it ever says is “no”.

Did you know that there are $4,000 washing machines? Seriously. If a washer is $4,000 I want it to get the laundry out of my room and bring it back folded after it made me coffee told me it likes my hair.

Maybe, just maybe, those six balls are a scarf and hat that get tucked away for years and long after I’m gone someone pulls them out and says, “Remember how Grammy was with all the wool? Remember how she knit all the time?” fingering the soft wool and pondering who I was and what I did while I was here.

The essay is one of my favourite forms of writing, and I feel like what’s inside is really personal, more so than with shorter pieces.