My guest, Betsy Cornwell, is no longer in touch with her biological mother yet she's now somewhat of a mother to many women in need. It was important for my guest to get out of her abusive marriage after having grown up in an abusive household. "The Old Knitting Factory" Connemara, Ireland, kept calling her back and is now a childcare inclusive arts residency, by a lake, where single mothers can feel safe and create art, write or do whatever they'd like to in order to fulfill their creative spirit.
IN THE PAST, MY GUEST HAS REFERRED TO HERSELF AS A “FIXER UPPER.” HOWEVER, I CONSIDER HER A SURVIVOR, EMPATH AND OPTIMIST. A SINGLE MOTHER AND SURVIVOR OF DOMESTIC ABUSE, HOMELESSNESS, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND DESPAIR. SHE IS ALSO A DREAMER. REGARDLESS OF HOW ISOLATED AND DESPERATE SHE WAS, SHE NEVER GAVE UP HOPE, OF ONE DAY BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE AN OASIS OF A “CHILDCARE-INCLUSIVE ARTS RETREAT SPACE FOR SINGLE MOTHERS” AND OTHER TWICE-MARGINALISED SINGLE PARENTS.
SHE TOO HAD STRUGGLED TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE AND PAY RENT WHILE WORKING MULTIPLE JOBS AND FRANTICLY LOOKING OVER BOTH SHOULDERS OUT OF CONCERN FOR THE SAFETY OF HERSELF AND HER YOUNG CHILD, NOT YET COMFORTABLE TRUSTING STRANGERS. YET SHE NEVER GAVE UP HOPE TO ONE DAY BE THE CONDUIT THAT OPENED THE DOOR FOR OTHER WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN VICTIMIZED.
BETSY CORNWELL IS A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR. SHE RECENTLY RELEASED, HER FIRST BOOK FOR ADULTS, HER MEMOIR TITLED, “THE OLD KNITTING FACTORY” SET IN COUNTY GALWAY, WESTERN IRELAND. IT’S THE STORY OF A HISTORIC 1906 KNITTING FACTORY THAT BETSY HAS TRANSFORMED, BRICK BY BRICK, INTO A SAFE HAVEN FOR SINGLE ARTISTIC MOMS AND THEIR CHILDREN INCLUDING CHILDCARE FUNDED BY DONORS.
BETSY HAS PUBLISHED MANY YOUNG ADULT BOOKS INCLUDING “READER, I MURDERED HIM,” THE CIRCUS ROSE, MECHANICA, THE FOREST QUEEN, VENTURESS AND TIDES.
Excerpt below from Notre Dame Magazine Autumn 2021
https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/better-than-fiction/
"And then I saw the Old Knitting Factory, and my heart started beating faster. The name called to me first: I have always loved to knit, and my dream had been born at the Dublin knitting show.
The listing showed a long, white-and-yellow house nestled on the rugged, overgrown shore of a Connemara lake. Built in 1906, it was a mess: crumbling paint and peeling vinyl floors, a leaky roof and a cinder-block-lined backyard. It had been built, the listing said, to teach rural women knitting skills to support themselves.
A house built to foster women’s independence and centered on my favorite craft: It had been reincarnated in the 1970s as an Irish-language cinema and later as a jewelry-making studio. In recent years, it had been a little-used vacation home, and parts of it were well-nigh falling down. It was more witch’s cottage than castle, though I’ve always been more of a witch than a princess anyway.
The house was one hell of a fixer-upper, but so was I. In my hollowed and leaking heart, I carried a soul-deep longing to find a haven for myself and my baby."
Betsy Cornwell’s six novels include The Circus Rose and the forthcoming Reader, I Murdered Him. Learn more about the Old Knitting Factory project at betsycornwell.com/the-old-knitting-factory.
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