How lovely.

Wow, that is absolutely lovely.

It's so peacefull... It makes me want to learn to spin even more ( damn ebay drop spindle kit, arrive already!)

Crazy how you sometimes meet people in completly new ways, even though you think you've known them well forever? It makes me think there is still some hope for interhuman relations

Oh, how beautiful!

And this idea of the (silent) poetry reading was inspired.

Lovely.

Very beautiful use of the language, all the more beautiful for being so restrained and simple. Thanks for sharing.

He not only writes great poetry but he gets the meditative process of spinning. Sounds like Joe comes from good stock.

The quiet of the poem is broken by the thought-sound of the wheel spinning. A lovely image to inhabit on a winter day.

I thank you and Joseph Dunphy.

That is amazing. Makes me want to ditch work, go home and spin.

He's capture the stolen-time of spinning gracefully and explicitly.

So simple, and so evocative. A lovely scene easily pictured in the mind's eye. If this is an excerpt, I'd be very interested in reading the complete work.

That was a good poem. It's often the quiet people, the ones with so few spoken words that seem to 'wow' us in ways we could never have imagined.

What a beautiful image! We forget that it was just a couple of generations that spun and knitted as part of the daily chores. Thanks for sharing. :D

Yes, thank you for sharing that beautiful poem. I'll carry the images with me through the rest of my day.

And thanks for sharing the (silent) reading idea!

Lovely! I'll have to find a poem to post.

Thankyou for sharing...a lovely poem. Obviously very observant, this quiet man. On a side note, Olympics countdown is happening at my house..tick, tick, tick. how about yours? And on a side side note, I have been enjoying your blog for some time. thankyou again for sharing your life stories with all of us. Sorry to be missing you at the Fiber Retreat in GigHarbor.

Beautiful. Lovely. It makes me want to read more. It's like discovering buried treasure, isn't it? I felt the same way when I read some things my grandfather wrote, he seldom spoke more than a dozen words at time. Reading those words are like having a window to his soul. How precious for your family.

wow, that's beautiful. what a blessing to have such a person in your life.

How lovely. Good writing is such a gift. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for that.

What does he think of the toil of your soft hands? Or will you have to wait for the poem?

*sigh*

I'm going to read that (quietly) to my new wheel and spin the day away....

Oh, yay!

I'm so glad to read this -- thanks for joining in.

Better tip off the KnitLit people. (Some have the soul of a poet, some the soul of an agent.)

As the others have said, thank you for sharing that. My dad was a man a few words too.

With only a few words, he has shown me a whole way of life. I could feel the connection of love between him and his grandmother; he admiring her work, she keeping her family warm with wool.

Thank you for a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. (Literary illusion intended!)

What a wonderful man he must be. I just love this little poem.

Sigh...like a spring breeze, or negative ions at the ocean, good poetry about wool fills me with peace. Thank you...and your poet father-in-law.

...and I agree with Rams - I would LOVE to buy and read a collection of such works!

How wonderful. You should be proud to have a father in law with such a generous spirit. Makes my heart skip a beat. Perfect description of my joy in spinning. Chloe

Wonderful. Personal images. Easy to read. Paints a picture. Give him a hug from me!!

Think of motorcycle gangs and ballet....

My mum used to make teddy bears and sell them at craft fairs. It was the late 80s, so there was lots of chintz and lace and stuff. She had this series of bears, the Berry Bears, that were her regular bear pattern, but the colours were inspired by berries. The Strawberry was was the frou-frou-est, very pink, very VERY PINK, lots of lace a straw hat, etc.

This biker dude in leather, with the long beard, the bandana, the works comes up to her booth. He's a BIG SCARY DUDE. Six-year-old me is hiding on the other side of the displays. Dude picks up Strawberry, takes it over to mum, pulls out his wallet, and says 'how much.' Mum tells him, he pays and starts to walk off. She asks if he wants a bag. 'NO.'

And then there's BIG SCARY DUDE wandering around this craft fair with the pinkest, laciest teddy bear you've ever seen. Mum said she wanted to take a picture but was worried she'd get hit.

We found out later they (a local 'motorcycle club') were doing a toy drive.

Wow. That's awesome. Aren't dads just amazing. They have so many layers we don't always see.

Few writings make me go back and read again, esp poems. This one I immediately went back to re-imagine. It's lovely.

You know the saying "Still waters run deep." ? I always liked that saying cause I was such a shy kid.
Sounds like it applies to your father-in-law. Thanks for sharing your impression of him and your discovery of a part of him you never knew.

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. He seems like a nice guy.

It's the quiet ones that bear watching.

Wow, I loved that poem. It made me vividly picture what he was seeing and I could imagine how he felt while seeing this. Awesome poetry. True talent. Thanks for sharing.

I've always felt that writing poetry is the hardest kind of writing there is, and I'm in absolute awe of people who are so gifted.

Thanks for sharing.

A warm glow. Thanks.

Thank You Stephie!!!!!

How very lovely. Thank you so much for sharing.

News flash! Stephanie made my local paper, the Baltimore Sun.

Knitting and blogging
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, spins yarns about her hobby and family on her Web site

http://tinyurl.com/a5tl6

Pretty cool!

That's gorgeous.

And now, of course, I want a Great Wheel. And to spin instead of going to bed, which is, alas, where I am headed now.

That's beautiful. I can only assume that he has many pairs of finely wrought mitts and socks!

a memory almost too personal and touching to share; and i was just forum posting about how i learned geography from my father's world map which showed who he spoke to and where ... he as a ham radio operator and the map was on the 'radio shack' wall...his last license was dated for renewal in 2001 , he was very proud of that date. as fate had it, that's the year he died. tell your father in law "thanks for sharing" and thank you too

A Newfie poet who writes about the fiber arts-- I think it's awesome.

Thanks for sharing a lovely poem. Last summer I bought a walking wheel and restored it after Christmas with the intent to learn to spin. Two weeks ago I fell on ice and broke my hip, but while I heal I can admire this beautiful, functional piece of history--and look forward to learning to spin in the spring! (I also read "Yarn Harlot" my first few days out of hospital; the laughter certainly eased the pain!)

Your father-in-law is probably a man of few words because he understands the power of language. My DH the same way. He's a professional writer who, upon meeting him, you'd think was verbally-challenged! The poem is lovely. Thank you (and your father-in-law) for sharing.

Wow-- that was really lovely... it made me want to spin, and I always swore I like my yarn to come naturally--in nicely wound little bundles. And, I've got to tell you, as an English teacher I have read oodles and oodles of craptastic poetry--it's like knittine, really (isn't everything?) It's really pretty wonderful when you're given something so beautifully crafted, when you were maybe expecting a garter stich scarf in cheap acrylic... small guage cashmerino words--what a marvelous idea:-)

Absolutely wow. Not silent, though. I could hear a very faint bit of classical guitar being played in the background... :)

Beautiful....must be a special sort of person.

Lovely. Thank you Joseph Dunphy - I can hear the sound of the wheel... Stephanie can you post the rest of the poem, I'd like to read more.

How wonderful. It makes me want to sit quietly and watch my old gramma doing handiwork and crafts. No wonder he's a man of few words - his memories are so rich!

A beautiful poem, capturing wonder of spinning. So well wrutten that I feel like I'm right there, watching her spin.

Oh, my! Please pardon all of my typos, I'm trying to type with a baby in my arms.

So lovely. Thank you Joseph Dunphy, and where can I read more?

Stephanie, sounds like he may be a man of few words, but just exactly the right words. . .

Thank you for sharing this beautiful thing.

Men You just never know.

Chills. That gave me chills.

Some people never speak unless they have something to say. Wow- 'Old' Joe sure does have something beautiful to say. The imagery is fantastic.

Thanks-to both of you.

That is lovely and a wonderful choice for Brigid's day. Your father-in-law is proof that still waters run deep.

In other news, I just googled "Knitting Olympics" in the hopes of finding local participants and Google came back with 86,300 results. How about that!

That is lovely and a wonderful choice for Brigid's day. Your father-in-law is proof that still waters run deep.

In other news, I just googled "Knitting Olympics" in the hopes of finding local participants and Google came back with 86,300 results. How about that!

Thanks, Steph! It's a really lovely extract. Mine's a little bleaker, but I think beautiful nonethelss

Beautiful poetry. Thank you for sharing.

I had a step-grandpa who was the quiet island in the sea of our talkative, loud and rowdy family. He fit in just perfectly and always said the funniest thing when the rest of us had to pause to draw breath. I'm marrying a man very much like him--the quiet ones give us that balance.

wow, thats amazing, i've never read poetry that had anything to do with spinning before (anything sleeping beauty does not count)

our wheels arent just bits a machinery to make yarn, and we don't just spin to have something to knit (when you sit down and calculate what you spend on your wheel you realize just how much cheaper your lys is!!) we do it because theres something deeply satisfying and homey about it

yeah so he captures tha pretty well :)

Hey this guy IS good. There's a lot of really awful poetry about knitting and spinning these days. Just horrid. This piece is good. Sounded like he has more to say though -- of course, it's an excerpt. Where can I find the rest? I'd love to see where he goes with it.

Thanks!

What a lovely poem! Thanks for sharing.

That was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. He may be a man of few words, but he sure knows how to string them together beautifully.
:)

Lovely! I like to imagine that is the wheel that you were offered back when you were going to learn to spin.

On another topic entirely: Your Knitting Olympics inspired me to start a blog, if only for the duration of the project. If your name-adding marathon allows for it, you could add the address to my listing. http://elizabethinnorway.blogspot.com/

Simply beautiful... goose bumps & tears.

don't you know "still waters run deep"?
its lovely.

That's beautiful.

And he writes great poems ABOUT SPINNING. What a great thing to discover. Thanks for sharing it.

Newfoundlanders are the best!

Beautiful. His words and yours.

What a wonderful poem, give that man a hug, and grab the wheel (G)..
I have a walking wheel from the 19th century which was rescued from a barn being taken down by my father-in -law. I have spun on it, and it sits in my study as I write. I too would love to read the rest of the poem.

What are the titles of his books?

I LOVE discovering new things about people I thought I knew well! Your FIL's poetry is quite lovely and I am absolutely chartruse with envy! I write, in nasty, impotent fits and starts, but I would never attempt poetry. That requires a certain depth, quietness and vision, that I know I lack completely. Although, a writer friend of mine says that every aspiring writer should learn how to write poetry, even if it is just for themselves and even if it is all bad. Poetry teaches you to handle imagery in a way that prose never can. And since my friend writes wonderful images (but no published poetry) and has published more than a dozen well-received books; I would assume she knows of what she speaks.

My writing muse has been speaking to me lately, and I keep telling her to shut up, 'cause I'm too busy to listen. But your FIL's poetry has her yammering at me again!

I continue to be green, chartruse, lime, maybe even cerise with envy!

Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing and thank you Joseph for writing. Many a time I've wished I was a writer. I so love the written word and admire those who can put down thoughts so well as to make me laugh or cry (or laugh through tears).

I'm hoping to make it to the Madrona Fiber Fest next week!!!

oh my. that is talent, indeed! bravo!

"unexpected in a way that smashes biases you didn't know you had"

I love this phrase. Nice work word mama. ;)

That is beyond cool.

Looks like his father passed the creativity gene on to Joe. Very nice.

How lovely...how moving!

and the 'barriers you didn't know you had' line made me stop and think for a moment

Thanks for sharing that beautiful poem. I feel like your blog is a bit like PBS. I can learn to finish a mud room, enjoy a drama about unruly stash, then relax with some lovely poetry.

Not ever having anything to do with spinning, I had to read the first 3 verses several times before the subject sunk in. This was my good fortune as I got to experience so many different imageries while I tried to get the focus: is it a meter-wheel? is it a gyroscope? a brush generator with sparks flying and superceded by mains electricity? And then the gentle revelation of the chatelaine and her wheel. Thanks, Mr Dunphy.

Jeannie, I hope the pain is much reduced and that you're able to get about a little more (that is, if you had a hip replacement). If you're not up, I hope the traction isn't driving you too nuts.

Wow....that's beautiful!

Beautiful. Who new Newfie poetry was so good????

What a great picture Mr. Dunphy painted in words for us!

Mmmm, nice.....it made me smile.

What a nice vision for a dreary day. Thx. Mr. D.
Also please add for knitting Olympics under my name (which is already on the list, but spelled Kim):
Kym (aka Boop):
Charlotte (my mother): baby poncho
Samantha (daughter, age 10): knit horse from kit
Thx. Peace out. Boop

Lovely, wonderful, and everything else everybody else said. And it is definitely true that the quietest people are often the deepest in unseen ways. What a treasure to have, and to pass down through generations.

Wow, what gifts in your family. I am sure that you are a gift to your poet-father-in-law just as he is a gift to you.

I loved it. I encourage everyone to read it outloud to themselves, it's so beautiful, you can almost hear the wheel.....

Man, I like that one.

That's just beautiful, Steph - thank you for sharing this!

Stephanie - I can't find where to sign up for the knitting olympics so I am sending this is to you. (I tried all the spots and links to the librarian etc, but no go ... at least to my small brain). I would like to sign up to make father-in law socks (what you say, no sweat you say? Try preferred color is navy blue! what yu say? I won't see an actual stitch until I finish and start the next part of my olympic challenge) Vine socks from Interweave for me (finally something for me!) and on a personal challenge, do research about going back to school for library sciences - I'm 53. I can say Shhhhh very loudly though I am a loud person at the most inappropriate times. This will be the biggest challenge since I will have to find funding by pulling it out of the air -- for real! Do they give scholarships to 53 year old people. is it viewed as a wise investment? Hmmmmm. Scary to me. This will be a career change ... like get one again after six years from losing my perfect art job. Hmmm. scary! Maybe I'll get a baby blanket made within the 16 days too. No i think I'll have enough to do, but maybe.....!! Thanks so much for being here, you truly inspire me! Mary

Thanks for the poetry as well.

Hi Stephanie

Yes, I am going to tackle the winter (knitting) Olympics.
Any reason to go out and buy yarn is a good reason.
Project: Jinny from Rowan 39 in Cotton Glace and 2600 beads.
Can put the beads on the yarn in the run up to the Olympics?
Ohh, I wrote an article on knitting for a Tulsa OK newspaper and I mentioned your books. (gtrnews.com)
It is listed under fashion.
Must go and see if I can find a button for my multicultural team.
Thank you for hosting our very own Olympics.

Is it too late to join in the fun? I can't imagine that I can finish this in
16 days, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll be trying the Merino Sei
Mitered Capelet from Jane Slicer Smith.
Thanks
Ellen

I tried sending an email to register for the Oylmpics, didn't scroll down far enough to find this. Heard about you on NPR (!), I'm doing the Romp in the Woods carigan from Creative Knits. What a great idea for the Needle Sports crowd!

Stunning poetry...including this response as part of the poetry! Wow, my heart is so touched...I loved Heather's pink teddy story and everyone's comments so much, too. I had copied and printed out the poem for my wall by my spinning wheel before I half realized you were saying it was your FIL! I was so amazed, it is very good poetry. He is quite daring and I like the way he works. Speaking as a fellow poet, he is very inspiring. I hope he will do a collection, too! Thank you.

I would like to enter the knitting Olympics. I will start and hopefully complete my first pair of socks. A year ago I tried and failed utterly.
Thanks for doing this, it's a lot of fun to imagine all those knitters sitting in front of the television watching the Olympics and knitting like mad!

is it really too late to sign up for the olympics? no, I'm not the skier from Bermuda, just a major procrastinator from Bow, WA in the States. I'll try a moebius scarf from the book and see if I can follow directions. Usually that is not my strong suit.
Your dad-in-law's poem is great. I take it he is not the yarn-boy. I will get back to reading the blog now. Good luck to all in the Winter Games!

Have you read any Billy Collins poetry? Love him as well.

I'd like to enter the knitting olympics. I've got 3-4 pairs of kids' socks to knit for our kids' school auction. Count me in!

Hi there, I was wondering if it's too late to enter a new team. Anyone interested in joining Team GREECE? If you are leave a post and maybe we can get a new team formed! By the way, love the greek button!