"Poet Opal Blaisdell Lenox hints at the very real person--all knitters can relate--beneath the idealized veneer of another Victorian knitter:
Milady, at the open window, sits
With countenance serene and look demure,
Her downcast eyes contributing allure.
The blush upon her cheek that glows and flits,
Adds glamour that demoralizes wits;
And waning sun with touch so light and sure,
Makes of her hair a golden halo pure.
But modestly, Milady simply knits,
Intent upon the swiftly rhythmic flash
Of gleaming needles that is never stopped--
While world and I adore her beauty fair.
But now I rise and quickly close the sash,
For I have noted that a stitch is dropped,
And World--you must not hear Milady swear!"
Quoted in Susan M. Strawn, Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art (St. Paul: Yoyageur Press, 2007), 26-27.