Untangling knots can be as enjoyable as doing a jigsaw puzzle. I’d forgotten the therapeutic value of unscrambling a ball of wool until recently. The newly acquired puppy, Maggie, delighted in taking wool from my knitting basket, left casually where I’d always left it.
She chewed the paper around a new ball until it fell off, and raced around the dining-room table, dragging the wool as she went. She stopped only to toss what remained of the ball in the air and tried to catch it. I watched her, entranced. Such a tiny bundle of fur, intent on playing with anything left where she could find it.
She chewed a shoe. Tore a tea-towel. Somehow she managed to chew the edge of the carpet in my bedroom where it joins the bathroom tiles. It took her exactly two minutes – the time I take to clean my teeth.
Thank goodness one of us learns fast. I soon remembered to put things away. To tidy as I went. To leave nothing on the floor where she could find it, except her toys.
Skills my father taught me
My father taught me many skills, large and small. Mostly I forget why I know things, and how to do others. But balls of wool decimated by the puppy reminded me of my father.
Dad helped me untangle messes of yarn when I was a very small child, learning to knit. He not only helped me, but also taught me how to think about knots.
‘You need to do it slowly,’ he said. ‘Then, you won’t make any of the knots tighter. If you’re patient, you can sort out the first couple of tangles. If they’re loose, you can work to undo them. Every bit helps. It’s fun!’
Untangling knots – a life-skill
For some time, I’ve been following Jeannine Ouellette on her Substack, ‘Writing in the Dark’. Jeannine is a writer and a teacher of writing. As she encourages a community of writers online, she also teaches life-skills. I’ve written about her work here and here.
This week, Jeannine wrote in an essay about fascia, that structure in our bodies that supports our skin, muscles and our organs. She calls fascia ‘a kind of miracle’. But she also says that fascia sometimes gets ‘injured, twisted up, adhered’. Then it no longer functions as it should. It hurts. We need to find ways of untangling knots.
We can do this by letting go. By relaxing and being gentle with ourselves and others. Through massage and physiotherapy.
There’s an article about fascia here if you’d like to read more.
‘Fascia holding the world together’
Jeannine Ouellette says that she imagines the world has its own fascia, too. She thinks of it as ‘a macrocosmic web that holds all of us together as one organism’.
She goes on to say that perhaps we can think of the elections in the USA as having damaged and inflamed the fascia that holds Americans and others around the world together.
Healing
Untangling knots in yarn and in our bodies takes patience and perserverance. Untangling the knots and soothing the damaged and hurt parts of the imaginary fascia of the world takes love, patience and generosity.
I agree with Jeannine when she says,
‘…we face new opportunities to untangle more net, untie more knots, with as much love as we can muster.’
Every small, generous action, every kind thought towards those in our lives helps to mend the world. We’ve always known this. Sometimes the lesson is more urgent.
I love that you now have a dog and can learn lessons from it. Yes the world’s fascia does need untangling with love, patience and kindness. What are you knitting at the moment. It is too hot here to get my unfinished jumper out and continue.
I want to share with you a decision I have made. I am moving to Da Nang, Vietnam in February next year. I want to live where my income can go further and in a place where I can have adventures even if they are just wandering around my neighbourhood and seeing things I did not know, meeting people I did not know and learning things I did not know.
I will always follow your blogs as they resonate so much with me. Still learning at 71, may it continue to satisfy my curiosity.
Love Jan
Hi, Jan. What an amazing decision you’ve made to live in Vietnam! Congratulations! I really get the need for adventures and novelty, although many people would think 71 is too old. I was 69 when I remarried and learned, among other things, to sail a yacht. I’m always on the lookout for adventure.
I’m making a crochet rug for my youngest (of 17) great-grandchildren. I didn’t knit or crochet for ages, but took it up again a couple of years ago and found mt arthritis improved and I enjoyed my rediscovered skills and craft.
Thank you for following my blog, and I look forward to your future comments and hearing about your new life.
Such delightful puppy behaviour! And I love how you respond to her mischievous streak!
Yes, Jeannine is so insightful and inspiring. I’m forever grateful you introduced me to her work.
I checked out fascia on google and learnt something new! How utterly incredible is our human form! ❤️
Posts by Jeannine Ouellette almost always inspire me. The one I quoted this week about out connection and connective tissue went way beyond her usual insights. My understanding of fascia and chronic pain has also grown . Maggie gives me lots of pleasure, but I’m glad I share her with Jernny and Simon.
I always enjoy your insightful writings Maureen. Puppy behaviour at its best reminding us to play and giving us reason to slow down and unknot!
XX Mia
Thanks for your comment, Mia. Maggie the puppy is now eight months old, and continues to delight and teach me
I don’t share your enthusiasm in untangling wool! Though I will mention that I’m about to take up crochet again, though not sure what I’ll make this time.
I can understand your enjoyment of having Maggie around. I love having Woody every day when everyone else is at work/ college. We have many one-sided conversations.
He frequently comes back to me when everyone is at home and he’s supposed to be with them.
Occasionally, I have Winnie the Lab too, but she often accompanies Max to work.
So much joy with a dog! I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed having a puppy. Like you and Woody (and Max?) and your family) I share Maggie with my daughter and son-in-law who live a block away from my apartment. It’s the best arrangement, because I’m not responsible for full time care, but do get the best bits. It suits all of us. A Border Collie/Poodle cross, she needs more exercise than I can give her, and the family takes her for hard runs and to the local dog park in the mornings, and I’m content to walk with her at a sedate pace in the afternoon.
Enjoy your crochet! I look forward to hearing what you are making, and your progress.