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Monday 11 May 2015

Day One: If You Were Yarn

If you were a type or brand of yarn, which would you be? Are you a classic pure wool? Is there extra tension but a bit of bounce in you because of your high twist? Would you be more like a high-maintenance, strictly hand-wash fluffy angora or a ‘bring it on’ acrylic, bravely heading into the world of possible baby-sick laundering disasters knowing that you will always come out bright and unharmed?
Since learning to spin I have become much more aware of different types of fibres and their properties and how that changes the way in which I spin them. I have fibres that I LOVE and fibres that I will never be working with again but I've never really given much thought to whether any of them represent me in any way.
And, in fact, I still haven't given it much though because I immediately thought of one particular skein of yarn in my stash and the decision was made. It's a handspun, spun by my own fair hand, not the best example of my work but somehow just very much 'me'.
This yarn is a total mongrel, a quick sift through my Etsy receipts tells me that the batts I it was spun from contained 8 different types of fibres, some of them with multiple colours.
I think that the sheer amount of stuff in this yarn was a big reason why I immediately chose it. Like most people I am not one thing, I am a mish mash of complementary and clashing qualities that all come together to make me. The manner of spinning was also a big influence too. Essentially I just sat down at mt wheel with my batts and let them become whatever they became, no plan in mind. What I ended up with was think and thin, dull then bright, twisty then soft and strong then delicate. This means that the weight is difficult to classify and the WPI is just an average, it refuses to be pigeonholed. A bit like a lot of people I'm sure, but definitely like me. I like to look a bit different every day,wearing different styles of clothes and wearing my hair differently. I'm scruffy one day, neat the next, some days I like rainbows and bright colours other days I'm all about black and ripped jeans and studded belts. There's always eyeliner though, just like my yarn with it's 2nd ply of shiny black thread.
Like me, my yarn isn't sure what it wants to be when it grows up. The perfect pattern hasn't shown up yet but it's not stressing. I like to take each day as it comes and see where I end up, there's no master plan, I'm just going about being me and trying my best in all that I do. Maybe I'll never knit this yarn, maybe it never wants to become anything more than what it is....and I'll be completely down with that.

8 comments:

Rachelle Crosbie said...

I love yarns that spin themselves, many of mine do that but I do sometimes tell it what it'll be. Batts are one that I always let choose their own path and I think they're better for it. That is a richly complex yarn you've got there and it will choose something later; one day it'll just pipe up with what it wants to be and you'll wonder why you didn't see it before :)

isegarth said...

Great post and well thought out. Lovely yarn too! Thanks for your visit to my place (http://www.woolgathering.org.uk/)

Gill said...

Great post and I absolutely love your yarn! So beautiful - I've tried spinning on a hand spindle but its not as easy as it looks - your post has inspired me to dig it out and persevere...

Elena aka. Midsommarflicka said...

Loved reading your reflection on your life & about your yarn of choice.
And: "Like me, my yarn isn't sure what it wants to be when it grows up" - love that sentence <3

Dominoe Clay said...

Absolutely love your post! Great description of yourself and I love the story behind how the yarn came to be.

Voie de Vie said...

I like your handspun a lot. Letting it be what it wants to become is a great perspective to have.

Vivianne Kacal said...

So what fibres do you hate & why?

Mary-AnneB Taylor said...

I love that line that like you your yarn doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Could be my line too, and I am 59!