Strength

I bought some Lopi yarn in Iceland. The shop owner seemed reluctant to sell it to me and kept saying it was not for the faint of heart. The yarn came in plates and looked like roving. It was not twisted or spun just fibers that had been pulled into long strands. The shop owner showed me how easy it was to pull apart the yarn causing a break in the strand. You need to put three plates together in order to meet the gauge for the sweater and have a strong fiber, she said.

I took three plates and started to wind a ball that was made of three strands. This was going to be way easier than knitting from the plates themselves. As I wound the ball, I had to be extremely careful not to pull too hard on the yarn. The good news was if I did pull apart one of the strands, they were easy to stick back together by just rolling the pieces together in my hands with a little water.

We all know there is strength in numbers. A delicate piece of fiber becomes a strong, almost unbreakable piece of yarn when combined with other fibers.

We need each other for strength. We can do more together than we can as individuals. The pandemic has shown us the importance of community. There is no substitute for the support and encouragement we give to each other. When we have the right combination of talents we can create almost anything.

Each stitch is made up of three strands of fiber and it’s the combination of fibers that creates a strong warm fabric. When we need strength, we need to ask for help. We are always more willing to give help than to ask for help. But strength comes from the community. We don’t have to go it alone.