Humans are silly creatures. The world is so full of wondrous stuff, and we benefit from so much of it, and yet, when we encounter something truly new -- truly different -- our first response seems to be "I don't like it". That makes no sense to me.
I mean, who hasn't been offered some ice cream flavor that you'd never thought of as being ice cream related, only to discover that it's marvelous? If you'd asked me before I tasted rose ice cream whether I thought flowers made good ice cream, I'd have thought it was a little too different. But ya know? Rose ice cream is pretty amazing!
Who hasn't found themselves liking a TV show or a movie that was out of their usual style?
Different isn't bad. It's not scary. It's not dangerous. It's just .... different. (Without people brave enough to try "different," I'd be living a life without artichokes!)
And yet -- here I am, doing something different, and struggling with the "I don't like it" reaction.
What am I doing?
Knitting with SUPER BULKY YARN. (image swiped from Ravelry)
(Jaeger Natural Fleece -Ravelry Link).
In fact, I'm designing with SUPER BULKY yarn. It's different. I'm not at all sure I like it.
What does it mean to be a SUPER BULKY yarn? It means that it only takes 10 stitches to get 4 inches of knitted fabric. For comparison, socks come in at 7-8 stitches per inch (so, 28-32 stitches to get that 4 inches of fabric). Lots of sweaters use worsted weight yarn -- thats 5 stitches to the inch (so, 20 stitches to get that 4 inches). This stuff doesn't even get three whole stitches before it makes an inch!
But I recall, ages ago, knitting another something in bulky yarns -- indeed, not merely bulky, but with crazy textures and stuff. (Yeah, I know, bulky isn't SUPER BULKY, but still).
That yielded the Beyond the Comfort Zone Shawl.
I still wear that thing from time to time. It's warm and cozy. And I like it.
This time, with any luck, I'll come to like SUPER BULKY yarn. Either way, I'll soon be seeking testers for a pattern for a big ol' infinity cowl made out of the stuff. (And thereafter, probably a hat too).
Why?
Well, I have a dear friend who loves working with giant yarns. She wants to make a big cowl for herself, and another friend generously gave her a boatload of this particular yarn. Whenever things like this happen, I get the urge to help by "whipping up" a "quick" design for someone.
I've charted something I think will work, but before I hand it off to my friend, I have to at least swatch the cables. I had charted something earlier this week -- swatching that concept showed me I needed to learn a bit more about working with super bulky textured yarn. I sure hope this round works.
Either way, it might just be time to dust off that old design and get the pattern out into the world.
(I'm still not sold on knitting with super bulky yarn, but I do rather like the way cables play so very differently when writ this large).
Here it seems to be my hands &wrists that don’t care for the really big stuff 😕 good to see you back again!
Posted by: Joy | September 08, 2018 at 09:20 PM