Dear Friends,
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Soul Knits is more than just a name or title. It represents a place of solace for a hurt soul. My name is Shyamali Perera. I was born in Sri Lanka, a little island tucked away in the Indian Ocean.�As the only girl and the eldest of three children, I had to grow up fast. With all the responsibilities on my shoulders, I hardly had any time to escape my responsibilities and be a child; but when I did have a moment, I would pick up my knitting needles and let my troubles escape me.
�Of course, I did not learn to knit on my own; my great grandmother (�archchi�) taught me this wonderful skill when I was young, to keep me out of trouble. As a teenager, I would knit to escape my worries and stresses in life, but as life picked up and I became a wife and mother of three, I forgot the peace that knitting brought me.
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�After enduring a difficult marriage and divorce, I felt that I no longer knew who I am. I was merely a divorcee with grown children and grandchildren. I would sometimes sit and wonder what my purpose in life is. While struggling to come to terms with my new life and diminishing role as a mother, I started thinking about my archchi and how she had helped me escape my problems when I was a child; I even wished that she could have been there to help me again. At that moment, it hit me; my archchi was there with me all along. After all, she taught me something that never left me; she taught me how to knit! Suddenly, I had a desire to knit, but I did not have any needles, so I gathered some scrap ribbon and two chopsticks and began knitting. By the end of the night, I had knitted a beautiful ribbon scarf!
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Five years have passed since that day. My life has undergone many changes. Throughout these life-altering changes, I continued to knit.� I knew that while I knitted, I could face life�s challenges with a sense of calmness. Today, I am designing and producing knitted products with the hope that they will bring all of you the same sense of peace and calmness that knitting brought me. �
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�Thank you for visiting Soul Knits. I hope my story inspires all of you to look at knitting differently and helps you to understand what Soul Knits is all about.
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Sincerely
Shyamali G. Perera
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DISCLAIMER:
I have chosen to sell 90% hand knitted products combined with a creative variation of different materials, which are recycled and are 100% environment friendly. 25% of the net sales of these products are donated to shelters for ALTERNATIVES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, in my community.
