Monday, February 11, 2008

knit knite



i'm sooo excited about the knit knite i will be a part of this week... in fact, so excited that i couldn't wait until the knit knite to get started on this knitetime knitting adventure. i jumped the gun and had my mama show me how to start when she was here a week ago. you see i made the mistake of stopping into this AMAZING knit shop --- KNITCH (1052 st. charles ave atl 30306-- in case you and your purse are willing to brave the temptation)-- in the virginia highlands area. i love textiles! i love tactile textiles! much like forsyth fabric store, this place wooed me and i have fallen in love. this seems to be the order in which i do things -- i fall in love with the tactile experience of a material and then i have to learn a skill that involves that material so i can experience it fully ( and avoid looking like a crazy by just collecting and petting fabric, yarn, etc.).



so now it is yarn. which can be more expensive than you would imagine. andrew is so puzzled as to why one would buy yarn to make a shawl that costs more than you could buy a shawl already made.



i, however, cannot WAIT to wrap myself up in this shawl. it will be so much warmer and cozier than if i had simply bought it off the shelf. i have imagined it. i have explored so many yarn possibilities. i have started and restarted and restarted the knitting of it until i got it just the right width (i hope b/c i'm NOT unraveling it for a 4th time!). i have touched every inch of the yarn from which it is made. i have pictured the countryside of uruguay and the sheep and the rural women who have been a part of this handspun wool before it came to me. i keep imagining all the years of love i will have for this shawl, my first knitting project. i picture myself wearing it as i create other things... as i tend my herb garden when there is a chill in the air... as i load the kiln in my studio when the air turns my breath into fog... as i paint oil paintings in my dream studio years from now (when i finally have said studio and when my child[ren] are grown and leave time for this luxurious activity).



so you were here for the beginning. you have seen this special shawl at its small, skinny beginning.

2 comments:

leslie the young mother said...

Jane, you are an exquisite writer. what a beautiful picture you just painted for me. makes me want your shawl - or at least to knit one myself (which would require me *learning* to knit). I hope this shawl prooves as close a friend to you as you to it :) miss you friend!
-Leslie

the seamstress said...

uh, YOUR dining room table and chairs? You know I have to say it, but this is exactly what I thought would happen.... anyway... hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. No gorging on chocolate for you, I'm sure. Me neither.