Read Online Things I Learned From Knitting by Stephanie Pearl–McPhee - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephanie Pearl–McPhee
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yarn so beautifully will herself die. I worry I will run out of money and wonât be able to buy yarn in the sad and distant future. I worry about global warming affecting sheep so that they donât grow as much fleece. I worry that this will make yarn too expensive and then I wonât be able to afford it. I worry that this yarn I love will be the only yarn I ever love and that for the rest of my days I will regret not having it. I worry about this despite always finding a new yarn that I love just as well as the one that I swore my undying allegiance to mere moments before.
The truth, is that yarn is sort of like a high school boyfriend. While youâre with him, he seems to you to be the most beautiful and wonderful man, and you know youâll never find anyone else like him nor survive in a life that doesnât contain him. Then, after the breakup and a tub or two of ice cream, you find out that thereâs another one you like just as well ⦠or even better.
I know this, I really do, but when I see that yarn I love, lying there on the sale table for the last time ever, half-price and lonely? I just canât shake the feeling that there really might not be more where that came from.
Knitting is still trying to teach me â¦
PATIENCE. ENOUGH SAID.
the 27 th thing
Speak softly and carry a big stick.
THERE ARE UPSIDES AND DOWNSIDES to having a finely honed stash. All knitters experience times of retarded cash flow. Having a good stash around the house is sort of like having a highly personalized yarn store where you can shop for free. Stashes are a creative source, a fountain of inspiration and the genesis of many a fine project. But if you let a stash get the upper hand, that advantage can become a massive complication.
Owning a spectacular yarn collection can become a source of pressure. Many a fine knitter has crumbled under the psychic weight of the stash and ended up its servant, casting on and off as the stash dictates, starting project after project after falling victim to the multitude of offerings her stash can make. For a knitter with low stash resistance, a big cache of yarn can feel almostlike a burden â the weight of innumerable unknit skeins pressing down on the knitter while screaming âPick me! Pick me!â
Some knitters handle this pressure by deciding not to have much of a stash at all. They buy as they go and keep little in reserve. These knitters are likely to have one of those handy âjobsâ or âcareersâ that provide them with a stable yarn budget. Then there are those knitters who, like me, require a stash to support them through the lean times and feel that, for the most part, stash ownership is inspiring. These knitters need to manage the pressures of the stash through self-discipline and by keeping the stash at bay.
It has taken me years to learn that I am the boss of my stash. My stash is there for me to pick and choose from, to be inspired by, and for me to use as I see fit. Of course, there are still times when I go into the stash to get one ball of sock yarn and emerge with plans for two sweaters, a hat, and a set of mittens, as well as a slightly dirty feeling, but with practice, I now rule the stash.
Mostly.
To: The Stash
From: Stephanie
Re: Your behavior of late
I know that you and I have an important, loving, fluid relationship, and mostly I treasure you and the way you respond to new yarns and changes in how often I visit. (I really appreciate how you dealt with that mohair thing. Iâm so sorry about what happened.) Thatâs why, after all this time together, I dislike having to lay down the law like this, but you leave me with no choice.
You seem to be under the impression that we are in a marriage of equals â that I will love, honor, and cherish you and that you will take part in our relationship as a teammate and partner who makes suggestions and decisions about the life we lead together and what gets knit
The truth, is that yarn is sort of like a high school boyfriend. While youâre with him, he seems to you to be the most beautiful and wonderful man, and you know youâll never find anyone else like him nor survive in a life that doesnât contain him. Then, after the breakup and a tub or two of ice cream, you find out that thereâs another one you like just as well ⦠or even better.
I know this, I really do, but when I see that yarn I love, lying there on the sale table for the last time ever, half-price and lonely? I just canât shake the feeling that there really might not be more where that came from.
Knitting is still trying to teach me â¦
PATIENCE. ENOUGH SAID.
the 27 th thing
Speak softly and carry a big stick.
THERE ARE UPSIDES AND DOWNSIDES to having a finely honed stash. All knitters experience times of retarded cash flow. Having a good stash around the house is sort of like having a highly personalized yarn store where you can shop for free. Stashes are a creative source, a fountain of inspiration and the genesis of many a fine project. But if you let a stash get the upper hand, that advantage can become a massive complication.
Owning a spectacular yarn collection can become a source of pressure. Many a fine knitter has crumbled under the psychic weight of the stash and ended up its servant, casting on and off as the stash dictates, starting project after project after falling victim to the multitude of offerings her stash can make. For a knitter with low stash resistance, a big cache of yarn can feel almostlike a burden â the weight of innumerable unknit skeins pressing down on the knitter while screaming âPick me! Pick me!â
Some knitters handle this pressure by deciding not to have much of a stash at all. They buy as they go and keep little in reserve. These knitters are likely to have one of those handy âjobsâ or âcareersâ that provide them with a stable yarn budget. Then there are those knitters who, like me, require a stash to support them through the lean times and feel that, for the most part, stash ownership is inspiring. These knitters need to manage the pressures of the stash through self-discipline and by keeping the stash at bay.
It has taken me years to learn that I am the boss of my stash. My stash is there for me to pick and choose from, to be inspired by, and for me to use as I see fit. Of course, there are still times when I go into the stash to get one ball of sock yarn and emerge with plans for two sweaters, a hat, and a set of mittens, as well as a slightly dirty feeling, but with practice, I now rule the stash.
Mostly.
To: The Stash
From: Stephanie
Re: Your behavior of late
I know that you and I have an important, loving, fluid relationship, and mostly I treasure you and the way you respond to new yarns and changes in how often I visit. (I really appreciate how you dealt with that mohair thing. Iâm so sorry about what happened.) Thatâs why, after all this time together, I dislike having to lay down the law like this, but you leave me with no choice.
You seem to be under the impression that we are in a marriage of equals â that I will love, honor, and cherish you and that you will take part in our relationship as a teammate and partner who makes suggestions and decisions about the life we lead together and what gets knit
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