09 April 2014

when a yarn isn't a yarn

I have been thinking lately about crocheting with different materials: yarns that are not yarns. I started with some garden twine – scratchy, rough and a long way from the soft pure wools that feel luxurious and indulgent to work with.



And it wasn't easy; pulling thick twine through loops gave my arms a workout and it wasn't the relaxing experience that I often find crochet to be. That led me to think about how crocheting a doily from garden twine felt more like 'work' than making the same doily from a soft yarn. As though work could be measured in terms of physical endurance, which it can't and shouldn't. But it did make me think about the physicality of making and the ways in which we measure the validity of the making [and the maker].


 And I know I will come back to these thoughts just as I will carry on with my quest for different yarns, stranger yarns, non-yarns.