Knitting for Peace

My boyfriend created this little comic as a Christmas card. It’s cute, its funny, and the ending is poignant. When I showed it to my grandmother, she said, “You better get busy with that last part.” With sarcasm in my voice I replied, “Yeah…..”

As impossible as it may seem, the truth is that we all see little snippets of peace on earth every day. I realized this a little over a week ago when visiting my pals in Detroit. When most people, even Detroiters sadly, think of Detroit the image is glum. People think of a city long past its prime. A place filled with poverty, crime and little hope of regaining its former glory. When I think of Detroit I don’t think of urban decay and unemployment, no, thoughts of Detroit fill my heart with the warmth and the loving spirit of the people who live there.

My recent trip was mostly focused on my knitting buddies. We participated in a fundraiser for breast cancer research on Saturday and had an all girls Superbowl party on Sunday. The weekend was inspiring to say the least. On Saturday we experienced the comradery of working together for a cause, but more importantly we met an extraordinary person. This young woman attended the same event the previous year and was inspired to do something big for breast cancer research. She pledged to raise $10,000.00 and if successful she would shave her head. Saturday she arrived with no hair. What was more spectacular was that she exceeded her goal. She raised $20,000.00. In addition to those efforts she also began working with prisoners at a women’s prison teaching them to crochet chemo caps. These prisoners pledged to make 500 chemo caps. According to sources at the prison her efforts have led to a complete turnaround in the women there. Suddenly there were less fights, more cooperation. The women were teaching each other and working together for something meaningful. My friends and I were blown away. For anyone who is under the mistaken impression that the efforts of just one person are inconsequential I would like to introduce them to a young factory worker who has changed the lives of countless people with her efforts.


Sunday was the now annual “Knitting Bowl” all girls Superbowl party. One of my fabulous knitting buddies is the host and we usually have soups and munchies and lots of knitting fun. Another great recurring tradition is the Superbowl brownies lovingly made and decorated by Joe the wonder husband. Last year’s brownie bowl was played by cats, this year we had aliens vs. ninjas. Although the snacks were lovely, what was truly inspiring was the community gathered in that humble living room. In one room we had the most diverse group of people thoroughly enjoying their time together. There were women of varied and even opposing faiths, races and economic backgrounds and sharing love and laughter and fun. One woman, a Muslim convert, another Jewish, and others Catholic, Protestant, Atheist and Agnostic.


Two of the women work for the same company in vastly different capacities, one and hourly union employee while the other is salaried management. Yet another woman is fighting cancer and brought a tote bag with the message: Cancer can kiss my ass. A whole rainbow of skin, hair and eye colors filled the room. Our respective bank account balances likely varied greatly and yet the sum total of all these differences only added up to a greater richness.

What binds us is the shared experience of our humanity, the realization that there is so much that we all share, and even those things which seem different aren’t all that different from up close. Those differences are what make us who we are and are ultimately what we love about one another.

Every week these women get together for the simple and yet profound purpose of knitting and in the end their lives weave together like the fabrics they knit. This is peace on earth. If only the rest of the world could visit this living room……………