note: this is a “warrior’s boast” in the style of Beowulf. One example of “how to have fun while still doing your homework.”
For eight years my needles have writ poetry in yarn;
Sometimes, I admit, these rhymes have been ill-wrought.
I am a veteran of frogs and twisted stitches;
To knit the perfect sweater has, alas, not been my lot.
Any yet, despite these mishaps, for sock knitting I’m famed.
Lace and Fair Isle stockings have I fought and won.
Victoria and Snow Bunny are two that could by named;
Long and glorious battles, now over and done.
For the first, I armed myself with Malabrigo Sock;
Straight and slender knit-spears were my tools of choice.
Deftly dueled I daily with cables and lace panels
No painful cry for air sounded in my voice.
For the next, I chose instead some Heritage Cascade;
That sheep-twist worked together with my needles.
Wearily and wildly I wove my wooly workings;
The triumph of my victory will ne’er fade.
More complex things that socks from my closet haunt me still;
Shaping, seaming, and fit walk in my nightmares yet.
The Classic Shirt by Sally Melville took my honor;
This button-down in blue’s an old opponent.
Twice have I tried and failed to beat my great enemy;
The little button band drove me to defeat.
Jeering laughs from other knitters have rained down on me;
Tonight I’ll try again to save my honor.
With thin Alpaca Lace and brave determination
With my trusty knit-spears stainèd blue by time
With jaded eye and steady hand and calculating mind
I’ll end this shirt or else I’ll end my knitting and my rhyme.
