Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Non-yarn knitting

Last night as I was wrapping up some felted-wool hearts I thought about how I could cut up some other sweaters less well-suited for sewing (some of them just don't felt tight enough) into long strips and then knit with them.

I do have some giant needles, and it might be fun to make, I don't know... a lap blanket? if I had enough to work with. Or a giant tea cosy?

Anyway I was thinking about that and then this morning I read this entry at Tiny Happy, after which the brilliant Margaret Oomen comments that she makes rag balls for knitting productive things out of old cotton sheets.

And now, of course, felted sweaters are just not good enough. My huge stash of gorgeous hand-dyed and hand-spun wools is - okay, it's more than good enough, and it's not like I don't have four pairs of socks on the needles and another to swatch.

Be that as it may, I am sufficiently suggestible to now wish I had some old cotton sheets to tear up. Though really, knitting with old cotton sheets would probably be one of those virtuous activities that feels good mostly because you know you're making something out of nothing, something useful, something kind of organic... and not because it's actually a pleasure to do.

Which makes me think that maybe what I love about knitting is the give and take of wool - the elasticity, the generosity, the partnership I form with the yarn to give it a new home far from the sheep it was raised on.

And thinking all that makes me think I need some more tea, and maybe a nice nap, before I go back to the socks.

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