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Yarn Quotes

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Yarn Quotes

“There I was out in the barn playing midwife to a pregnant mare. I remember sitting there, spinning yarn in the light of a little oil lamp, a city girl who knew nothing about farming, sitting on the deel beside that mother in pain, already beginning the birthing process. All around me there was darkness and perfect silence, except for the mother's pain. It was as if the war didn't exist in those hours.”

IfsLittlesWarLightPainRememberMotherGirlProcessHoursPerfectCitiesSilenceDarknessSittingOilPregnantLampsFarmingSpinningBarnsMidwifeYarnBirthingMaresCity Girl
Author:Diet Eman
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“A plain sock by itself is terribly boring, but it could score points by having a clever stitch pattern, or maybe by being made out of a very beautiful yarn that's an enchantment to work with. (Sadly, it is still infuriatingly true that being beautiful without being clever is almost worth more points than being clever without being beautiful, but such are the rules of life and knitting-they are cruel, but there anyway).”

MadeStillsBeautifulPatternsBoringCleverScoreSockVery BeautifulEnchantmentKnittingBeing BeautifulStitchesRules Of LifeYarn
Book:All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin
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“The progress of science is tremendously disorderly, and the motivations that lead to this progress are tremendously varied, and the reasons why scientists go into science, the personal motivations, are tremendously varied. I have said ... that science is a haven for freaks, that people go into science because they are misfits, and that it is a sheltered place where they can spin their own yarn and have recognition, be tolerated and happy, and have approval for it.”

PeopleSaidReasonMotivationProgressHavensScientistRecognitionReason WhyFreakApprovalMisfitsYarnPersonal Motivation
Author:Max Delbruck
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“It is some kind of miracle that all knitting is constructed of only two stitches: knit and purl. Sure, you throw in some yarn overs, and sometimes you knit the stitches out of order, but when it really comes down to it, knitting is simplicity. The most incredible gossamer lace shawl ... the trickiest aran ... a humble sock ... each just made with knit and purl.”

KindMadeTwoSometimesOrderMiracleIncrediblesSimplicityHumbleSockLaceKnittingStitchesYarn
Book:At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
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“Spin' is a polite word for deception. Spinners mislead by means that range from subtle omissions to outright lies. Spin paints a false picture of reality by bending facts, mischaracterizing the words of others, ignoring or denying crucial evidence, or just 'spinning a yarn' - by making things up.”

MeanFactsRealityLyingEvidencePaintDeceptionRangeSubtleCrucialPoliteSpinningMisleadBendingOmissionYarnSpinner
Book:unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation
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“I have not much faith in women in fiction.... Women are so horribly subjective and they have such scorn for the healthy commonplace. When a woman writes a story of adventure, a stout sea tale, a manly battle yarn, anything without wine, women, and love, then I will begin to hope for something great from them, not before.”

WritingStoriesWomenFictionSeaAdventureHealthyBattleAnd LoveWineTalesSubjectiveScornCommonplaceManlyStoutYarn
Book:Willa Cather
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“The writer is a definite human phenomenon. He is almost a type - as pugilists are a type. He may be a bad writer - an insipid one or a clumsy one - but there is a bug in him that keeps spinning yarns; and that bulges his brow a bit, narrows his jaws, weakens his eyes and gives him girl children instead of boys. Nobody but a writer can write. People who hang around writers for years - as producers did - who are much smarter and have much better taste, never learn to write.”

PeopleGivingWritingYearsHumansMayChildrenEyeGirlBitsBoysTypeTasteProducersHis EyesPhenomenonSmarterDefiniteBugsSpinningBrowsClumsyInsipidYarnGirl Child
Author:Ben Hecht
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“If upon this earth we ever have a glimpse of heaven,it is when we pass a home in winter, at night,and through the windows, the curtains drawn aside,we see the family about the pleasant hearth; the old lady knitting; the cat playing with the yarn;the children wishing they had as many dolls or dollars or knivesor somethings, as there are sparks going out to join the roaring blast;the father reading and smoking, and the clouds rising like incense from the altar of domestic joy.I never passed such a house without feeling thatI had received a benediction.”

IfsChildrenFeelingsHomeEarthJoyNightReadingFatherHouseHeavenWishCatWindowDollarsWinterCloudsPleasantRisingSmokingSparksGoing OutGlimpseCurtainsAltarsDollsBlastOld LadyRoaringKnittingIncenseYarnBenediction
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“Don't ever let anyone tell you that history doesn't repeat. For 70 years, liberals have been spinning the yarn that FDR's New Deal, despite all the evidence that it exacerbated and prolonged the Great Depression, quickened our economic recovery. Indeed, I remember scratching my head when one of my college history professors in the 1970s tried to convince us of that theory and its corollary - an even better howler - that FDR was actually a conservative, because if he hadn't implemented his socialist programs, the republic would have died right there.”

IfsYearsHas BeensRememberDealsEconomicCollegeTheoryEvidenceProgramDiedConservativeRecoveryDespiteRepeatsConvinceRepublicProfessorsSocialistSpinningGreat DepressionNew DealYarnConvince UsEconomic Recovery
Author:David Limbaugh
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“I Need a Good Book I need a good story. I need a good book. The kind that explodes Off the shelf. I need some good writing, Alive and exciting, To contemplate all by myself. I need a good novel, I need a good read. I probably need Two or three. I need a good tale Of love and betrayal Or perhaps an adventure at sea. I need a good saga. I need a good yarn. A momentous and mightily Or slight one. But with thousands and thousands And thousands of books, I need someone to tell me The right one. -John Lithgow”

NeedsWritingKindTwoBookStoriesThreeNovelAliveSeaAdventureExcitingBetrayalTalesContemplatingShelvesGood BookGood StoryGood WritingSagaYarnGood ReadsLove And Betrayal
Author:John Lithgow
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“It is a peculiarity of knitters that they chronically underestimate the amount of time it takes to knit something. Birthday on Saturday? No problem. Socks are small. Never mind that the average sock knit out of sock-weight yarn contains about 17,000 stitches. Never mind that you need two of them. (That's 34,000 stitches, for anybody keeping track.) Socks are only physically small. By stitch count, they are immense.”

NeedsMindTwoProblemAmountWeightAverageTrackImmenseSaturdayUnderestimateNo ProblemSockStitchesHappy BirthdayYarnKnitters
Book:At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
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“Pass by the synthetic yarn department, then, with your nose in the air. Should a clerk come out with the remark that All Young Mothers In This Day and Age (why can't they save their breath and say "now"?) insist on a yarn which can be machine-washed and machine-dried, come back at her with the reply that one day, you suppose, they will develop a baby that can be machine-washed and -dried.”

ShouldAgeYoungMotherAirBabyOne DayMachinesBreathsNosesDepartmentThis DayRemarksClerksKnittingSyntheticYarnYoung Mother
Book:Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac: The Commemorative Edition
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“Because I’m a cat. A big one, the Panther of Rough Storms, in fact. But still a cat. If there’s a saucer of milk to spill, I’d rather spill it than let it lie. If my mistress grows absent-minded and leaves a ball of yarn about, I’ll bat it between my paws, and unravel it. Because it’s fun. Because it’s what cats do best.”

IfsStillsFactsBigsLyingFunGrowsCatBallsStormRoughMilkBatsMistressAbsentSpillsPawsPanthersYarnAbsent Minded
Book:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
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“You mostly.” Her hands went still again as her eyes stared off into the past with a look so wistful it made me ache for her. “The boys tended to take care of each other but you were too much for anyone else to handle.” I poked at the ball of yarn avoiding her eyes. “I wasn’t that bad.” She smiled. “You broke Ethan’s arm.” “It was self-defense. He wouldn’t let go of my foot.” “He was helping you tie your shoe.”

LooksMadeStillsSelfHelpingHandsEyeCarePastBoysToo MuchFeetArmsLetting GoBallsShoesTake CareDefenseHandleBrokeTiesHer EyesAvoidingAcheSelf DefenseYarn
Book:Stray
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