Eleanor Mallet Bergholz started a knitting group 13 years ago at the Rice Branch Library located in an impoverished part of Cleveland's East Side. The group still meets today.

This book is a personal memoir of two intertwined stories that run in opposition to each other. One is the nurture that flourishes in this group and empowers individuals and community. The other is about the powerful and intractable forces that still circumscribe many of their lives. For many, the fight to build their lives, their children's and their grandchildren's never stops. Yet, beautiful things emerge from this group, not only knitted and crocheted garments, but the blossoming of individuals and the building of community.

Eleanor Mallet Bergholz was a columnist at the Plain Dealer. She is a graduate of Oberlin College She has written two other books, "The Notion of Family' and "Tevye's Grandchildren."

''YOU MAY PASS CASUALLY BY and think this is another charming "how to" knit book with beautiful pictures and witty tips. But read just a few pages and you will quickly realize this is a profound insight on how a strand of yarn can connect us all. Stitch by stitch and person by person, Eleanor Bergholz tells the story of starting a knitting group in a diverse neighborhood on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Through each narrative, we meet members of this community whose stories are personal, challenging, progressively heartbreaking and reveal the unthinkable truths of systemic racism in our country. But, together in a circle each week, knitting turns into a pause in reality, and a foundation for acceptance, healing and friendship. This is a view of poverty and racism that could be seen in any city across America, but Eleanor connects us to each individual one intimate story at a time. The accumulation of these stories (much like stitches) builds a blanket of warmth for this community and inspires a radical commitment to doing better and making something beautiful.''

Jessica Pinsky

Executive Director

Praxis Fiber Workshop