Knitting in Liminal Spaces

While preparing yarn and needles for my upcoming holiday I started thinking about knitting and liminal spaces. These are places (or even feelings) where you are moving from one reality to the next. Now stay with me here. The best examples of liminal spaces include stations on a motorway, a waiting room on a train platform or a queue for airport security. These are places you have to move through to get from A to B. From where you work to where you live, one country to another, one life to a new one.

When you travel, you pass through dozens of liminal spaces. They are almost all forgettable but have an eerie quality to them when you try to remember what the last waiting room you sat in. Hence why websites and Twitter accounts have popped up dedicated to these spaces.

I thought about knitting and luminal spaces when I got caught in the rain walking home from brunch with my boyfriend. We took refuge in a tunnel under a bridge while it bucketed down. My partner pulled out his phone and started watching a video and I almost did the same (as is so natural in this day and age). Instead I pulled out my knitting.

Luckily I had a simple sock on small circular needles and a tote bag that lent itself well to knitting to standing up. The rain took nearly half and hour so I ended up doing quite a few rounds. There is no better example of a liminal space than an actual tunnel. You are always moving through a tunnel. It’s not designed for you to stop and spend a lot of time in, you are meant to pass through it. When one is stopped in a liminal space, you tend to get irritated and feel like you’re wasting your time. Knitting is one of the few things I can think of that combats these negative feelings created when one is stalled in a liminal space.

I know this to be true because we also recently got stuck on a train that was delayed by nearly an hour. I think I was the only person happy to spend that time in my seat because it meant more time working on my knitting project! It feels like I’m taking back time that is being stolen from me by the delays that life throws at you. It also means I never ever want to leave the house without at least a sock stashed in my bag!