I Love Yarn Day

October14, is I Love Yarn Day. Personally, I love yarn every day.

To me a ball of yarn is a ball of possibilities. It still amazes me to see how with the help of some tools, that nothing can turn into a blanket or a scarf.

With yarn I can turn waiting time into something three dimensional with a purpose. I keep two projects in a soft bag that I carry with me all the time. Both projects are easy and small. I took them on the plane when I came back from Chicago and now when I’m waiting for something. I’ve already finished one small dish cloth and working on another. The cowl from the pretty yarn I couldn’t resist at the Tuesday Morning store is really taking shape. And the bonus for me is that I am not bothered by waiting.

Working with yarn has another benefit. Some people drink wine or pop pills, I pull out a hook or some needles and some yarn. The rhythm is soothing and meditative. It is actually more relaxing when I pay attention to what I’m doing, rather than do something else at the same time. I met a woman once who told me she could read while she knitted. Not for me.

Yarn comes from all kinds of sources. There are places where you can take all the fur your dog or cat shed and have it spun into yarn. I saw a woman spinning yarn from soy milk fibers at the Los Angeles county fair. Talk about turning nothing into something. I tried spinning once - though it was with standard wool fibers and it’s addictively soothing. After just a few minutes I was thinking of getting my own wheel.

Yarn has paved the way for my dreams to come true. It was all about learning how to fashion yarn into granny squares that brought me to writing the Crochet Mystery series.

There is a social aspect about working with yarn. It is nice to crochet or knit with a group. Not only do they help each other with problems with their projects, but life ones as well. Check out a group of knitters and crocheters and nobody is working in silence. Their lives become as interwoven as the lapgahns and sweaters they create. It was thanks to the group I’m in that I thought of the Yarn Retreat series.

Writing the books and coming up with patterns has done something else for me. I started out by just following a pattern, one step at a time, not thinking of what I was really doing or the big picture of how it was going to work out. But eventually, I began to see it in my head and found I could think in crochet or knitting and figure out how to make something that I pictured. I remember marveling at some woman who grabbed a ball of yarn and a hook and began crocheting a scarf without seeming to have any plan. And then I found I could do it. I stay to the simple designs for several reasons. I like to include patterns that someone with basic skill can make and I like to let the beauty of the yarn carry the project rather than fancy stitch work.

Yarn has led to me meet all kinds of wonderful people. I’ve gone to the Knit and Crochet Show and made friends with yarn people from all over everywhere. I’ve meet wonderful people at the Vogue Show and Stitches Midwest. And most of all, there’s my regular group that meets at Joann’s.
Yup, yarn has enriched my life in so many ways. Who’d figure a ball of colorful fibers could so all that.

I do dearly love yarn. It has enriched my life in so many ways.