Like so many sheep, the knit bloggers go.
I am just not feeling it.
As someone who yarns in a yarn store I am not happy about the not buying yarn thing.
I understand trying to save a little money, I understand wanting to be able to close your drawers/closets/crawl spaces in order to contain the yarn. Really,I have the same issues.
But .... Jeez Louise.
For the love of God ... Just knit faster.
Another bloggy peeve, a ring surf group I belong to has started a knit along entitled "I have a Dream " It entails knitting a fab dream project for yourself.
That is a admirable plan. In fact the majority of the projects I have on the needles are for myself and I intend to complete them. However, I feel to use the title of Dr. King's most famous and compelling speech is wrong. It is stupid and terrible and wrong. Dr. King's memory deserves so much more.
I am writing form emotion here and my edit this post later. I also confess to not doing a lot of research on the above, but I am just reacting to post I have come across the last few days. So feel free to correct me if I am laboring under any misconceptions.
But it's my Blog and my 2 cents.
Friday, January 12, 2007
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11 comments:
Here here! I agree whole-heartedly Mrs. Hammer :)
The "I Have a Dream" thing is annoying huh? This is the first I've heard of it. Yuck.
Stash knitting ... sorry dude, but we will agree to disagree on that one. As a LYS person, I can totally understand your perspective though.
Keep speaking your mind. I'm listening and appreciate your honesty.
I, personally, am envious of the people who have a year's worth of knitting just sitting in stash! My stash is mostly UFOS or single skiens, so I clearly can't give up buying yarn. Also, I can't imagine going a year without buying yarn.
Yes. Not buying yarn? As a statement to what exactly? I agree. If you're a knitter, knit with it. If you're a shopper, than just buy it. I'm sort of thrown by the whole "egads! we spent too much on yarn and let's support each other, 12 step like, and try not to do so anymore!" - to the detriment of certain businesses I am quite fond of.
And "I have a Dream" that catchy knit alongs will go away entirely.
But I am a hermit like isolationist who knits all alone in my dark little cave. By the light of fireflies.
...sort of.
There was a -along last year along the same lines as this year's stash-only knitting thing. And as predicted, there were many posts about people falling off the wagon and the browbeating that went with it. People, it's yarn. Now if your fiber habit is out of control in the way that your other needs go begging (hygiene products, shelter, food, books), then committing to this makes sense. But the need to specifically join a group? I don't understand it, because I don't think most people joining in that idea are in the "this is really a problem" group.
All that said, it is always my goal to knit from my stash. But I'm also someone who doen't feel too bad about purchasing the special and/or cannot-pass-this-up bargain. Right now I'm knitting a sweater out of stash yarn. Okay, new stash yarn, but since it came from your stash I think it counts! (making Top Secret from the boucle, and it is so snuggly knit up!)
Hadn't seen the "I have a dream"-along and yeah, that's in poor taste. -Rebecca
Well done to all people involved.
_____________________________
http://www.austinshakespeare.org/Season/
Thanks guys for your thoughts.
After all it is jst yarn. I just don't get the "me too ism" I think that it is getting out of hand. Do we not knit to express a part of our individualism ?
Weird, I missed this post when you made it last week.
I agree with you on both points. Using "I have a dream" for something as trivial as knitting (and it is *just* knitting, people) just feels disrespectful.
The sheepish of the internet world always amazes me. Now, knitters who have entire stash rooms (see, Wendy of Wendy Knits) can certainly use some time looking to their stashes, and knitting from them. And I'd not criticize anyone who tries to find ways to make do with what they have instead of consuming more of anything that they really don't need. But (and there always is a but, isn't there?) this whole idea of a stash "diet" reminds me of this book by Sally Tisdale that I'm just finishing now.
In one chapter of it, she talks about the whole idea of dieting, and the effect that it has on our psyche, and how so many women seem to relish the idea of somehow proving themselves through denial of one of their basic bodily needs. Yarn dieting seems somehow similar to many people - a way to prove our "worth" by proving that we can deny ourselves something that we want, that provides us with pleasure.
There's more here, but I don't think I have the brain power to tease it out more fully.
Yarn!
Chocolate!
Sex with men!
I'm just joining this little exploration and have a lot of appreciation for the perspectives issued here. As a yarn store owner, i suppose I should be concerned about this 'movement' to urge people to stop buying yarn. I'm not. As those who know me are aware, it is not my intention to sell yarn to people if it is a detriment to them to be buying it. I have questioned and even stopped a few customers who seem to be pained upon making their purchases.
I do echo, however, the concern that women, predominantly, choose this form of self-deprecation. A diet because your health is suffering, is one thing. A diet because you don't fit on a chart or match an cultural iconic figure, is nothing but self-destruction. I would posit than men who fill their garages with tools do not sit around questioning the accumulation of wrenches and drill bits. They love fixing or making things, so they accumulate things around to them to facilitate their passion.
If you love your yarn, having it around you makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Collect it. I like to organize mine by color. Arrange it on shelves. Even hang it on walls for decor. Will I knit it all? Probably not. Do I care? No. Every skein stimulates my creativity and I'm very content with said expression through the things that I do manage to knit. And it feels really great when I have beautiful yarn to give away to someone who appreciates it.
If the yarn around you is making you feel badly. Then clearly you need to do something about that. I dare say, though, a yarn diet is not going to resolve whatever made you accumulate something you don't feel good about. Perhaps some deeper reflection and inner movement is called for. I don't know. I mean, diet away if it works for you. I only wonder if it will really mean anything in the end at all.
Oh, and on the "Dream" thing: trite and disrespectful, imho. Knitting can have a profound effect on one's life when pursued as a creative and meditative tool over time. Even so, it is just knitting. This from a yarn store owner, folks. Let's keep perspective. It is ONLY knitting and the deepest benefit is to the knitter, not anyone else. MLK Jr.'s "dream" was about doing profound work for the sake of others.
More than enough said, I suppose.
:-{
Sorry about that long post. Should have previewed....
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