A Knitting Journey

I am on a knitting journey. Over the years my knitting has been inspired by many different people, places, and yarns. I have always loved the way that color can be combined through different shapes and patterns.

Starting in my early twenties when I was living on Orcas Island in Washington State, I began knitting hats with a wool called Lamb’s Pride. I loved the myriad of vibrant colors that it came in and the soft texture of the bulky weight yarn. I bought many skeins in a variety of greens, blues, reds, and browns and I would create hats from patterns my grandmother had shared with me. At that time, I would knit my hats by following the patterns closely and trying to make sure that they came out how the pattern specified. As I made the same patterns over and over though, I began to realize that it was more fun to play around with the needle size, color, or combine yarn weights to create different textures.

I knitted with wool for many years before realizing that the wool felt too itchy and I wanted something softer against my skin. I came across acrylic, alpaca, merino, and blended yarns that were softer and began to incorporate these into my knitted creations. I also discovered self striping yarns by Lion Brand, such as their Ferris Wheel line and Berroco’s Topaz. The softer self striping yarns inspired many fun new ideas for hats, scarves, and cowls. I now go back and forth between self striping and solids yarns, sometimes combining them in my creations and sometimes using them exclusively. It all depends on how I feel when I look at the yarn and the colors. I also rarely follow a pattern now, especially when knitting hats, because I have found that I love coming up with new patterns and using different types of stitches to bring out the colors of the yarn.

I know that this knitting journey will continue to evolve and that my creations will continue to satisfy my need to need to explore and play with color and texture – all the while making wearable art!