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05/05/2015 12:00 PMIf you’re like most people, when you think of knitting, you probably pigeonhole it as an old-fashioned, maybe even quaint, wholesome hobby. But one master knitter with Guilford roots is challenging that perception with her own life story.
Lee Gant, a Santa Rosa, California, transplant from the shoreline area, is a recovering drug addict and self-professed formerly “lost and angry” rebel. After decades of struggle—a period she calls her “garbage years”—she found salvation in an unexpected place: her local yarn shop. There, she rediscovered knitting, something she hadn’t done since she was a kid. More than that, she found a community and a sense of acceptance that helped her to rebuild her life.
Today, Gant is recognized as one of the country’s best knitters and knitwear designers. Gant works with youth in northern California to expose them to the concept of knitting as a tool for healing and personal growth. Her book, Love in Every Stitch: Stories of Knitting and Healing, shares stories of people who “have experienced profound enlightenment and change through knitting and crochet.”
Gant has three upcoming book signings in the area: on Saturday, May 9, she will be at Essex Books; at Gather in Ivoryton on Wednesday, May 13, she will be at The Yarn Basket in Branford; and on Thursday, May 14, she will be at MadWool and R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison. Last week, Living spoke to Gant about her craft and the lessons she’s learned from it.
How did the idea for Love in Every Stitch come about, and how long did it take you to write it?
“It’s the weirdest thing—for so many people, this is their dream [to publish a book], but I had no idea this was coming...I would sit around the table in the yarn shop where I work and customers would come in, and something happens when you sit in a group, knitting and talking...and they were fascinated by the stories of the mess that I came from...Nobody was really believing that I was the same person that was sitting there in front of them, and they said, ‘You should write a book.’ I thought that if everyone keeps saying that, there must be something in it.
“My writing was so terrible, though, that [my agent] said it was garbage; I can tell a story, but I couldn’t write one. So I went through a lot of books and I took a class at the local junior college, and I have a wonderful husband who’s an editor and he helps me a lot...But from start to finish—from the point which my agent said was so grim, and she said, ‘Why don’t you focus on the inspirational stuff that you’re doing working with these kids’...it was a couple of years.”
What kind of things do you do with the kids you help?
“I was not a volunteer ever in my lifetime. I was one of those who expected things to come my way and felt like the world owes me something, and through sobriety I changed my attitude on that...We have a lot of resources here in [Santa Rosa] and there’s a family support center that helps families who are homeless—it helps them get jobs and provides support—and one day I just showed up and said, ‘I have boxes and boxes of yarn and needles,’ and asked if they had any kids who wanted to learn to knit...There’s a Boys & Girls Club I did the same thing with. I started with a group of foster kids that were dong an art program...It just became the more I did it, the more rewards I got.
“I’m trying to reach the kids and the young teenagers who are all in their devices now and living in their own world—and it’s not their fault—but I’d really like to reach them before they reach the drugs and the alcohol and depression...So many kids are depressed.
“[With knitting] all you have to do is ask and somebody will teach you...There’s a reason so many people are doing it, and it isn’t because we all want hand-knit sweaters. The giving-away aspect is good...It seems to be a big circle of comfort. It’s a much nicer place to live in than the stuff I carried in my head in the garbage years.”
You’ve deal with depression and substance abuse in the past. How has knitting helped you?
“I learned to knit at a young age, but I didn’t use it as a tool. I think I knit so much because I enjoyed it—it wasn’t [about finishing a project]; it was more about the process and the motion, the repetitive motion that I find comforting. The more I knit, the more that place opened up in my head where I could go inside myself and reflect and find answers to all those questions that we walk around with when we have anxiety...It was always while knitting that I was able to either discover an answer to a question or solve something that was bothering me...It’s kind of a Zen thing: you go into a space where there’s no anxiety. You can be anywhere you want. I can be standing under a waterfall in Hawaii because it allows a state of mindlessness...I never go anywhere negative [while knitting]...I’m writing and reliving all this traumatic stuff, but it’s not traumatic anymore because I can look at it from a different perspective and sort out what happened. I’ve come to a lot of realizations that I might not have found out had I not been sitting in a comfortable chair zoning out.
“I see so much positive now where I used to see negative, and I can’t [attribute] it to anything else but knitting because that’s the only thing that I do consistently. I just want everybody to know that it’s a tool that’s available. It’s not just grandma knitting anymore; it’s for everybody. It will take a while before you get into that zone-out stage [in knitting]; you have to practice. But if you stay with it and don’t give up, you’ll get to that place of self-esteem and you’ll see what [changes can come from knitting].”
Was there a turning point for you when you realized that the “garbage years” had come to an end and that knitting was helping?
“The garbage years started in high school and lasted for about 20 years. I was lost and I was angry...[As for a turning point], I had to get sober—that was huge. And I think the turning point for that was I ended up in court again and the judge told me that if he saw me one more time he was going to take my kids away from me...I was one of those rebellious, I-hate-everybody, poor-pitiful-me people. I was drinking, I was doing drugs, I was in and out of prison, institutionalized, cutting. I ate 150 pills at one time. I laid in the street once and almost got run over. I don’t think I really wanted to die, but I was in a really bad place.
“[One day I stepped into a yarn shop, and] they invited me in and let me be part of that world of yarn and colors and sharing and being nice to people. I was a mess and I came out of there with something that I didn’t have before I came in. It was a start that I needed to fan the embers, and all of a sudden I realized that knitting had something to do with how I’d been feeling better...It took me a while to understand that knitting was helping me..But I realized that if something as simple as making something with your hands can pick me up, it might for other people, too.
“I have no problem telling people about my [past] and where I come from because I want everybody to know, if I can pick myself up, anyone can.”
Lee Gant will read and sign from her book, Love in Every Stitch, during the following events. Gant is also working on the forthcoming pattern book Dress Me Up, which will feature designs for young juniors sizes 6 to 12. For more information about Gant, visit www.leegantknits.com.
Saturday, May 9: 3 to 4 p.m. Essex Books at Gather, 104 Main Street, Ivoryton. For more information and to RSVP, call or text Susan McCann at 914-310-5824.
Wednesday, May 13: 5 to 7 p.m. at The Yarn Basket, 288 East Main Street, Branford. Bring your knitting. For more information and to register, call 203-208-3288.
Thursday, May 14: Knitting from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. at MadWool, 56 Wall Street , Madison, followed by a book signing at 7 p.m. at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. For more information and to register, visit www.rjjulia.com.