Tuesday, April 05, 2005

The Feel of Yarn

"Too often, people focus only on results. But getting results without learning something or without having fun are incomplete. So is having fun without getting the results, or having fun without learning something new to help and empower you in the future. Accomplishment is all three: the result, personal growth and having fun."
-- Peter L. Hirsch

I was knitting away on a baby blanket today and suddenly I realized that my gaze was on the flowers coming up through the renewed earth and not on my project. Some how I had forgotten to look at my knitting and my hands knew just what to do.

I wondered if it was a fluke so I decided to “test” my new gift. Once again my hands knew how to finish the row. Suddenly it was if a whole new world had been opened up to me and the grass seemed a little greener and the world took on a brighter hue.

I’ve learned from knitting and watching movies how not really watching makes me hear things that I don’t notice when I am viewing the movie. Little sounds under the music come alive but when I try and find them again with my eyes, it is as if they have disappeared.

The same thing is happening as I knit. I suddenly “feel” the yarn. Now that I can’t see it with my eyes, my hands are seeing it as if for the first time. I can feel how it is thinner then my other yarns that I have been using as of late also it is not as soft. But it moves very well from the ball to the needles with little resistance.

I must admit I am drawn to a yarn by its color scheme. But now when I cannot see the color, I wonder if I would have picked it on feel alone. Maybe after my diet is up I will go to a yarn store and take home whatever feels good to my fingers…they deserve a treat after all.

I don’t know how much automatic knitting I’m going to do in the future but maybe once a day for five minutes I will allow my fingers the simple pleasure of sensing the yarn. Who knows what it will teach me tomorrow?

Ruinwen
:)

5 comments:

Birdsong said...

Ruinwin, what a very beautiful post! I have never really worried about mastering knitting without looking, but I still appreciate your reminder to knit for the process, not just the results, or to get on to the next project. Happy Spring!

Anonymous said...

What a great post. I can crochet by feel and am getting there with knitting (lol - I have been knitting less than 2 months, but seem to be learning fast).

I think I have a leg up, because I do a lot by feel and listen a lot without looking, because I grew up in the middle of the local blind community. My mother is blind.

There is so much that we can miss if we forget to just enjoy the craft and just listen.

Anonymous said...

It's the total package thing: like a favorite song. Is it the words? the beat? the melody? the vocals? Or is it the way all those things mesh and blend to create something greater than the sum of its parts?

Yarncrafting's the same way; the feel and texture of the yarn will have as much influence on the finished work as the color or weight or anything else. I actually can't imagine NOT taking that into account.

Kary said...

What a wonderful observation .... thank you for sharing it with us!

Plain Jane said...

I taught myself to knit without watching back in college where immense amounts of required reading interfered with the need to ply my needles. That was over 40 years ago and I've found that some section of my usually befuddled brain can keep track of stitch & row counts all by itself while I'm enjoying the latest book in the pile from the library.