Ghost Fabric
Trying to remember that I am a person in a body and not just a pair of knitting needles moving through space
When I hold a knitting project in my hands, I’m usually focused on the next stitch to knit or the upcoming cable to cross or the color work floats that invariably try to tighten up and pucker my work. In other words, I’m tied to the moment and what it requires of me right then. First I knit one stitch and then the next, maybe purl the one after that, forgetting that the magic that I am involved in is creating a fabric from thin air and yarn.
I’ve been more conscious of this, though, since being snagged by this quote from Japanese designer Asuka Hamada in the Fall/Winter 2022 issue of Amirisu:
The interesting thing about knitting is that you design from the textile itself. With sewing you can also start by designing the fabric, either by creating a print, dyeing it, or even weaving the material, but I think the interesting thing about knitting is that you create the textile and the garment simultaneously.
I’d never considered this fundamental difference between the two crafts before. My first love was sewing and I even made a brief career in costume shops in my early twenties. The vast majority of sewists start from a manufactured textile that has already been produced to meet certain requirements. A plaid flannel or a bottom weight linen could be made into anything but they already have the finished qualities that make them perfect for a cozy button-up or flowy pants.
Garment sewing is an act of reduction. Strange, organic shapes are cut from flat bolts of fabric and stitched together to create forms that hug our bodies. It’s beautiful, but it feels more like synthesis of one existing work into another.
Knitters also start with a manufactured good but a hank of yarn is much less insistent about what it should become. It’s a loose, shapeless mass of potential that could take form in any number of ways. The fabric that will become your new favorite sweater will require thousands of individual stitches to come into existence. Once the fabric is made, so is the sweater.
Why does this feel so profound? The idea has got me zeroing in on one row of stitches in a garment I’m wearing and trying to remember myself in the moment when I still had them on my needles. I’m looking at my current project and imagining the ghost fabric beyond my live stitches that is one day or one week from being created.
Knitting is embodied in a way that reminds me of who I was in a place and time and who I will be as a textile takes shape under my fingertips. As I focus on making each stitch, I’m leaving a record of that moment that will keep me warm for years to come.
Finished Objects
I’m starting to play with a podcast style structure to share with you all more of my WIPs and thoughts on FOs. Please let me know if you have any feedback! And of course, please share what you’ve been knitting on.
Big Love
I featured this as a WIP in my Sunday post a few weeks back and I’m so happy with how it turned out. CaMaRose Snefnug is like a cozy alpaca hug and I cannot wait to get this beauty into the mail and on its way to my mom.
This isn’t a size inclusive pattern, but I would probably knit it again because of that fun shawl collar construction. And I am already dreaming up projects that would be perfect for more Snefnug.
📓 Ravelry Project | 🔗 Pattern | 🧶 Yarn
Harlow Hat
This has been a back burner knit for me for a few months. Brioche is so soothing, especially when there is no shaping, and I’d pull this out every now and then when I wanted a simple knit for a zoom call or watching TV. Something came over me this week, though, and I finished this hat in almost one sitting.
I have a tiny child’s size head, so I shortened the body of the hat a bit. I also chose colors that have low contrast because I’m boring but I love the feel of the Tukuwool Fingering. It’s rustic, for sure, but isn’t so scratchy that my forehead itches.
📓 Ravelry Project | 🔗 Pattern | 🧶 Yarn
Works in Progress
I won’t go into too much detail on any of these, but you got a sneak peek in the opening essay of my Champagne Cardigan. Picked up this Suri Alpaca from La Bien Aimée in a sale last fall and combined it with this dusky purple on a whim while swatching for this project. It is pastel Lisa Frank in the best possible way.
I also cast on a vanilla pair of socks to keep at my desk in some beautiful self striping yarn from Woolens and Nosh. She just put up a shop update on Friday if you want a little color-fueled joy for yourself.
Those are all of my active WIPs right now! Don’t tell all the hibernating sweaters and socks and hats that I left them out of this newsletter. Hopefully they’ll get their day in the sun soon.
Annie, you continue to be my writing hero. Not to mention knitting hero. You are truly a treasure. Keep it up girl!! I love it!
And you are so damn good at headlines. Seriously, you rock so hard!!
I will be copying your genius... ;)