About six months ago I drove to Lawrence, Kansas and purchased a loom from the Yarn Barn of Kansas. If you’re anything like me (and I know you’re at least a little like me, because we both know how to read and that’s a very good place to start, Gretl Von Trapp!), you need to constantly be learning something new to do with your hands, AND you need to constantly be using your hands. It has nothing to do with idle hands being the devil’s workshop, nor does it have anything to do with the verses in Thessalonians that some people use to justify our current administration’s decision to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which has led to food banks running out of food and people being hungry (like truly hungry, which is something most of us have never experienced) and my God, at what point will we take a step back and actually care about the well-being of others instead of seeing everything from the Us vs. Them mentality that is super fun (I guess?) for things like sporting events, but seems sort of diabolical when we’re not considering the fact that we (and THEY) are all humans with fears and opinions and dietary needs? (Was that a question or a statement? I lost track along the way.) I mean, I really don’t think Jesus would get a kick out of seeing how some people are behaving right now.
Back to the loom! (I’ve named her Weezy, after Isabel Sanford’s character in The Jeffersons. Obviously.)
My first project on Weezy was a Let’s See What Happens when I Do This sort of thing, because I had no idea what I was doing.
The second project was more of the same, but I stepped it up a bit by warping (the long threads) a patterned yarn in a way that zigs and zags, and using black as a weft (the back and forths).
Next up? Dogtooth!
And then a lace scarf for a friend!
After the lace scarf I learned how to use pick-up sticks to add patterns and texture to my projects. For this scarf, I wanted to showcase the multicolored silk yarn my mom gave me, so I used a pick-up stick to create the colored ladders that sit on top of the ivory yarn. I really love how this thing was coming together. (Note the past tense! I just foreshadowed!)
Can we talk about my mental health for a sec? It’s no secret that I deal with a half-bucket of anxiety and depression. Also, my relationship with food is very complicated. A few years ago I was evaluated and diagnosed with ADHD (along with everyone else and their brother’s friend’s cousin’s sister-in-law and her kids). All of these things are super manageable (Pills! Pills! Pills! Therapy!), and I’m super lucky to have resources (an intentionally vague term!) to get through this thing called Life.
But I’m here to tell you, there’s something else.
When I get upset or angry about something that I have no idea how to fix, I’ll feel an intense and uncontrollable urge to ruin something that’s completely unrelated to the thing that upset me. Specifically, I feel the urge to destroy projects I’ve been working on. I once unraveled a cardigan that was close to being finished. I’ve ripped up drawings, I’ve removed yarn from my spinning wheel and tossed it into the trash, AND a few weeks ago I cut that silk scarf off of my loom. I immediately felt better (I always do!), but the next day I was full of shits, damnits, and fucks. (Note: No need for concern. These moments of impulse control occur maybe once a year and I never mess up anyone else’s stuff.) Hhhhhhhh. It would have been a really great scarf.
Ack. Let’s get back to Weezy, who is currently holding a blend of yarns that I purchased in Denver several years back.
Although the yarn is brittle (because it was recycled and overdyed incorrectly), I’m digging the plaid.
Let’s just hope the world doesn’t get shittier for the next few weeks so I don’t feel the need to rage-harvest the scarf immaturely. (Let’s also hope the world doesn’t get shittier after the next few weeks, regardless of what your definition of Shittier might be.)
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