Sweater No. 9
Poetry
The contemporary compulsion to produce robs things of their endurance [Haltbarkeit]: it intentionally erodes duration in order to increase production, to force more consumption. Lingering, however, presupposes things that endure.
— From The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han
Let me hold this yarn, this worsted weight wool, this shorn fleece. Let me become part of it, the willowing. Let calloused fingers skirt scour, sort, and resist mechanism, subvert efficiency. Let me push back and cast on 81 stitches.1 Fiber: 70 percent alpaca joined with 30 percent wool washed, carded, spun, dyed east of my hometown. Let me join the round and work knit 2, purl 1 ribbing until I have worked 23 centimeters, worked the magic loop method. Let me last, long, let me linger until I, too, have wound up and unwound again.
1. My Favorite Things Knitwear, English pattern for “Sweater No. 9,” a “heavy knit sweater with classic raglan sleeves and a high neck.”