Knitting might be the strongest manifestation of Zen.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-knitting-behind-bars-20111125,0,5454434.story

“I thought I could give a calming influence to people who really need this,” she said. “I’m not a social worker. I’m not an educator. But I thought what it takes to do knitting are skills vital to human existence — setting goals, completing a project, giving to somebody else.”

Defying every expectation, Zwerling’s Thursday night program, “Knitting Behind Bars,” has become in two years the most exclusive club at the Pre-Release Unit, an all-male, minimum-security penitentiary in Jessup, Md., about 15 miles southwest of Baltimore.