Shakespeare Knits: Act I

William Shakespeare was one writer who was familiar with the fiber arts, and he referenced them often in his work. Thinking about “the ravll’d sleeve” made me curious enough to look up more references. Here are the first few:

Antony and Cleopatra

II 2:

To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

I, i:

HERMIA. My good Lysander!

I swear to thee by Cupid’s strongest bow,

By his best arrow, with the golden head,

By the simplicity of Venus’ doves,

By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,

And by that fire which burn’d the Carthage Queen,

II, 2:

O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!
Love takes the meaning in love’s conference.
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit
So that but one heart we can make of it;

IV, i:

THESEUS Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
For in the temple by and by with us
These couples shall eternally be knit:
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.

V, 1 :

Thisbe
O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
My cherry lips have often kiss’d thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

The Tempest

III, 3:

My high charms work
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions; they now are in my power;

Macbeth

II, 2

Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course

How many people realize that sleave, as the word was spelled in Shakespeare’s work, means, not part of a shirt, but a knot or twist of silk fiber?

Quotes about Socks

For all those inveterate sock knitters out there (you know who you are!), I’ve updated my list of the thoughts of some well known people about their socks.

“One can never have enough socks.”

Albus Dumbledore

“I got up one morning and couldn’t find my socks, so I called Information. She said, “Hello, Information.” I said, “I can’t find my socks.” She said, “They’re behind the couch.” And they were!”

Steven Wright

“True love is like a pair of socks: you gotta have two and they’ve gotta match.”

Unknown

“Never put a sock in a toaster.”

Eddie Izzard

“I washed a sock. Then I put it in the dryer. When I took it out, it was gone.”

Rod Schmidt

“The average Southerner has the speech patterns of someone slipping in and out of consciousness. I can change my shoes and socks faster than most people in Mississippi can speak a sentence.”

Bill Bryson

“Never run in the rain with your socks on”

Unknown

“Both of your socks should always be the same color.  Or they should at least both be fairly dark”

Dave Barry

“Yes, sir. I’m a real Southern boy. I got a red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer.”

Jimmy Carter

“Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.”

Unknown

“He may be president, but he still comes home and swipes my socks.”

Joseph P. Kennedy

“If it weren’t for women, men would still be wearing last week’s socks.”

Cynthia Nelms

“His socks compelled one’s attention without losing one’s respect”

H.H. Munro

“A man is about thirty-eight before he stockpiles enough socks to be able to get one matching pair”

Merrily Harpur

“Politicians who wear little tennis socks with the balls at the back should not be taken seriously.”

Mo Rocca
“Honey, have you ever seen a man knitting socks?” (yes, actually!)

Ezer Weisman

“I have reached an age where if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to.”

Albert Einstein

“My socks DO match. They’re the same thickness.”

Steven Wright

Fiber Arts: A Little Poetry

Autumn — overlooked my Knitting —

1482 Leber de Natura Rer

Dyes — said He — have I —
Could disparage a Flamingo —
Show Me them — said I —

Cochineal — I chose — for deeming
It resemble Thee —
And the little Border — Dusker —
For resembling Me —

Emily Dickinson

O, fellow! come, the song we had last night.

Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;

The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,

And the free maids that weave their thread with bones,

Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,

And dallies with the innocence of love,

Like the old age.

Shakespeare
Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 4

Quilts

(for Sally Sellers)

Like a fading piece of cloth

I am a failure

No longer do I cover tables filled with food and laughter

My seams are frayed my hems falling my strength no longer able

To hold the hot and cold

I wish for those first days

When just woven I could keep water

From seeping through

Repelled stains with the tightness of my weave

Dazzled the sunlight with my

Reflection

I grow old though pleased with my memories

The tasks I can no longer complete

Are balanced by the love of the tasks gone past

I offer no apology only

this plea:

When I am frayed and strained and drizzle at the end

Please someone cut a square and put me in a quilt

That I might keep some child warm

And some old person with no one else to talk to

Will hear my whispers

And cuddle

near

by Nicki Giovanni

Creativity is……. (quotes)

Creativity is inventing, experimenting,
growing, taking risks, breaking rules,
making mistakes, and having fun.
Mary Lou Cook

There is a fountain of youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring in your life and the lives of people you love. — Sophia Loren

Everyone is a bore to someone.
That is unimportant. The thing to
avoid is being a bore to oneself.
Gerald Brenan

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.–Franklin Roosevelt

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! –Dr. Suess

• The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.–Charles Dickens

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make. –Truman Capote

Creativity is a type of learning
process where the teacher
and pupil are located in the
same individual.
Arthur Koestler

“Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.”
Edward de Bono