the Village Knittiot

I’m currently reading through Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s latest book — Knitting Rules. I sincerely enjoy receiving useful and practical information in a highly entertaining and well written manner and this book meets all the criteria.

After yesterday’s post, I delved into the chapter on yarn. It is appropriately named “Yarn and How Not to Feel Guilty About It.” She made some very good points on the merits of stash acquisition — some a little tongue and cheek and others that were more serious. Given my confession yesterday that I have a hard time committing to spending money on yarn and almost no stash to speak of, I figured that this would hold some valuable advice. Perhaps result in a more balanced approach that would allow me to purchase what I need and *gasp* occassionally what I want without the accompanying hesitation and panic and regret.

I was not disappointed.

She points out that if you were a carpenter no one would tell you that you had too much wood or, if you were a painter, too much paint and canvas. She also highlights the entertainment value and does a cost per hour comparison to some other popular forms of entertainment. Knitting, of course, is always the cheapest, because it takes the longest. Most importantly, she includes the caveat that as long as your ability to pay for the yarn is not exceeded by your actual purchases, you’re probably doing okay.

And lets face it, in this giant blogosphere we all call home, we have vastly different levels of what is a reasonable and responsible amount of money we can spend on yarn and its assorted trappings. There is no room for guilt in this equation.

One of the most important pieces of advice she gives in this chapter is “Buy the best you can afford. The stuff you make is your legacy, and your time is really worth it.” The best that can be afforded isn’t always going to be the most expensive and what it is you can afford will likely change from month to month and year to year as life fluctuates and alters its course. In the end, I have to agree with that kind of thinking.

Right now, as I have mentioned, I am knitting a shawl in some of the nicest yarn I have ever had the privilege to work with (earlier today in an e-mail I noted to someone that Alchemy Yarns should be given the knitting equivalent of an Oscar). I can’t remember the last time I worked on something that I was so completely, rapturously in love with. I find that I am unable to be away from it for longer than an hour at a time. I tried to bring it into my office just so I could be near it while I worked, but the temptation to gaze at it admiringly and not work was too strong. So I take frequent breaks and visit it in the living room. I don’t have to knit, just touch it, hold it up to the light. I’ve even named her — Ruby Joy (after a newly rediscovered friend’s spritely daughter and the sense of bliss I feel everytime I pick up this project).

To borrow a little math from our dear Harlot, the two skeins that Ruby Joy will be comprised of cost around forty dollars. The pattern estimates that this shawl will take twenty-four hours to knit. However, this is me we are talking about and with the Knittiot, lace always involves some amount of tinking, not to mention the time I spend just admiring it, so lets tack on another six hours just to be realistic. Forty dived by thirty gets us $1.33 per hour of entertainment. Not too shabby.

Before I close, let me also say that seeing the infamous Yarn Harlot in person was a treat. I have never felt so good about being told how utterly uncool I am. Really, I just felt a lot better about the whole situation.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 8:31 am and is filed under this Knittiot Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.