Ode to Gerry Ruddy

Knitting in the sixties
was comprised of yarn
purchases in Newberry's basement
and patterns from "Workbasket."

Lacking a knitting store
or knitting circle
I would lug my project
to the beauty parlor
source of all knowledge
and camaraderie.

My friend Lorrayne, the stylist, and I
would swap patterns and
unsnarl the mysteries of patterns
with confusing directions.

When all else failed
Lorryane would say,
"I'll ask Gerry Ruddy;
she will be in on Thursday."

Gerry Ruddy was
the fount of all wisdom.
She owned needles
in every size...
knitted and crocheted
complicated patterns
with all weights of yarn.

Strangely enough...
we seldom asked Gerry.
Most of the time
the relinguishment
of the problem
to the knitting goddess
allowed one or the other
of us to find an answer.

For close to forty years
I've purchased patterns
with problematic instructions
and tagged them...
Ask Gerry Ruddy!

Sometimes I failed to make the project.
Other times I figured out the next step
as I knitted along.

About a year ago
I was thinking about
trying a new pattern
but the cost of the yarn
and the complexity of the repeat
was giving me pause.

So, I asked Lorryane,
"Do you think Gerry Ruddy
could teach me this sequence?"

Lorrayne shook her head.
"Gerry is in the nursing home.
Doesn't come in anymore.
She gave me her needle collection."

I tried to remember her.
I think I met her once.
A sturdy middle-aged woman...
She had smiled and nodded
her curled head in my direction
when Lorrayne praised her
knitting skills.

Truly I hadn't paid close attention
to the real woman.

I didn't make the construct
between the pleasant woman in the chair
and knitting guru in my fantasy.

A month or two later Lorrayne added,
"Gerry Ruddy died."

How could that be?
Knitting goddesses don't die.

Alas, it is not true.
They disappear into another realm
and take all that knitting knowledge with them.

Now I read pages and pages
of instruction on the internet.

I go to the knitting store downtown.
Diane one of the owners
is a knowledgeable knitter
and patient teacher.

But Gerry Ruddy remains
"the knitting goddess."