Knitting for Knitting's Sake
Laura
I was invited by our friend Robin to attend a large knitting group in our area a few weeks ago. Boba Knits meets every Thursday night in Mountain View. It's an interesting group of women sharing knitting progress and laughing together over a wide variety of topics. One knitter, we'll call her Tina, showed everyone her new FO, a pretty lace scarf she was wearing. She pulled the scarf apart to show us the intricate stitches and then boldly declared, “I’m not going to block it”.
The impact of this statement on the other knitters was really quite interesting. An unblocked lace scarf rolls into a tube almost completely hiding the pattern. Other knitters, friends of Tina, gently probed and questioned her decision, thinking surely they must have heard incorrectly. She must have meant, “I haven’t blocked it yet.” As she continued to insist that nooo, blocking lace was too much of a pain for her, the polite questioning turned into subtle knitter disbelief. Who would, after all, work all the small delicate stitches of a lace scarf and not have it show? Tina calmly restated that knowing that it was there was just fine with her. She knit the scarf for the experience of knitting it and that was enough.
I nodded my head a bit, thinking to myself, good for her. I’m afraid, however, I don’t have the same level of dedication to the art as Tina. I tend to want to power through “unimportant” parts of the knitting with my eye on the goal … the finished object.
Laura
I was invited by our friend Robin to attend a large knitting group in our area a few weeks ago. Boba Knits meets every Thursday night in Mountain View. It's an interesting group of women sharing knitting progress and laughing together over a wide variety of topics. One knitter, we'll call her Tina, showed everyone her new FO, a pretty lace scarf she was wearing. She pulled the scarf apart to show us the intricate stitches and then boldly declared, “I’m not going to block it”.
The impact of this statement on the other knitters was really quite interesting. An unblocked lace scarf rolls into a tube almost completely hiding the pattern. Other knitters, friends of Tina, gently probed and questioned her decision, thinking surely they must have heard incorrectly. She must have meant, “I haven’t blocked it yet.” As she continued to insist that nooo, blocking lace was too much of a pain for her, the polite questioning turned into subtle knitter disbelief. Who would, after all, work all the small delicate stitches of a lace scarf and not have it show? Tina calmly restated that knowing that it was there was just fine with her. She knit the scarf for the experience of knitting it and that was enough.
I nodded my head a bit, thinking to myself, good for her. I’m afraid, however, I don’t have the same level of dedication to the art as Tina. I tend to want to power through “unimportant” parts of the knitting with my eye on the goal … the finished object.
I recently converted a simple beginner's shawl we
had knit as a sample into a longer scarf for my
trip to Europe (they are all about wrapped scarves
there). Madil Eden bamboo is one of my favorite
light-weight yarns and it comes in this lovely
coral color that’s perfect for summer. I decided to
add about 6” of a lace pattern to each end.
I'm happy with the result and might choose to knit another the same way --> spend the effort on the ends and fly along the middle. The center ladder stitch is light and airy and just sooo fast and easy. The center all wraps up together anyway so why not just speed through to the other end? Well, sometimes anyway. I guess it’s a balance of art and practicality. More on the lace panels next time.
I'm happy with the result and might choose to knit another the same way --> spend the effort on the ends and fly along the middle. The center ladder stitch is light and airy and just sooo fast and easy. The center all wraps up together anyway so why not just speed through to the other end? Well, sometimes anyway. I guess it’s a balance of art and practicality. More on the lace panels next time.
Is Symmetry Overrated?
Laura
It seems I am surrounded by those who worship on the alter of symmetry. We’re building a house and I just had a major brouhaha with the builder. The cabinets I designed for the sink wall are ... not symmetrical (gasp!). It has everyone in a tizzy. It doesn’t seem to matter that the design allows for more space for drying dishes or that the over-head shelf will tie it all together. And then we started hanging pictures and out came all the tape measures. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against symmetry per se, I am just not sure all pictures need to be perfectly centered on the wall. Maybe, just maybe, a better balance can be achieved by offsetting a heavier aspect of the wall. I like the "a little to the right, no a little to the left" approach a lot better.
Laura
It seems I am surrounded by those who worship on the alter of symmetry. We’re building a house and I just had a major brouhaha with the builder. The cabinets I designed for the sink wall are ... not symmetrical (gasp!). It has everyone in a tizzy. It doesn’t seem to matter that the design allows for more space for drying dishes or that the over-head shelf will tie it all together. And then we started hanging pictures and out came all the tape measures. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against symmetry per se, I am just not sure all pictures need to be perfectly centered on the wall. Maybe, just maybe, a better balance can be achieved by offsetting a heavier aspect of the wall. I like the "a little to the right, no a little to the left" approach a lot better.
These experiences may have influenced the shawl I
recently converted for my trip to London and Paris
with Jaclyn. I decided it was high time to break
out all those Barbara Walker books I bought during
my unwanted knitting hiatus. I was looking for a
scalloped edge and there were two patterns in Book
One that especially caught my eye. The first was
the Madeira Cascade (page 222) and the second, a
deceptively easy Vine Lace (page 218). I knit six
plus inches of Madeira lace for one end but then
had yet another radical non-symmetrical thought and
asked myself “why do the ends have to match?”
Wouldn’t a more delicate lace peeking out from
behind the Madeira look lovely? And so I did – and
so it does.
The bamboo shawl / scarf was the perfect travel companion. Light enough for warm summer afternoons and cozy enough for those cool evenings sipping wine at the local café.
How about you? Are you a slave to symmetry?
The bamboo shawl / scarf was the perfect travel companion. Light enough for warm summer afternoons and cozy enough for those cool evenings sipping wine at the local café.
How about you? Are you a slave to symmetry?