Since the start of the pandemic, my Instagram feed has started to resemble something I can only describe as ‘Yarn Porn’ – picture after picture of pleasing rows of uniform stitches, fluffy twists of yarn and chunky needles happily resting next to half-sipped cups of coffee, cosy log burners and slabs of lemon drizzle cake. I can’t get enough of it! What’s the attraction? Why is it that whenever the latest restrictions are announced, I start panic buying yarn when everyone else is stockpiling toilet rolls?
I couldn’t tell you in all honesty, all I know is since my mom reintroduced me to knitting at the start of 2018, I’ve been hopelessly hooked. I tried to learn as a child, but being a leftie, I can remember her showing me one method then walking off and leaving me to happily twist it around and start working it back in the opposite direction. I have no idea how I managed it, I just know she gave up trying in the end and so that was where it ended.
I don’t know why it started again in 2018 either, except one afternoon whilst she was visiting, we chanced across some fluffy wool and some needles and I wondered how I’d managed to reach my mid 40s without ever learning properly, so I asked her to teach me again. I’m pleased to say that this time around it was a more positive experience. Since then I’ve learnt through the medium of YouTube, knitting on double pointed needles, knitting in the round, what different weights of yarns mean and how to follow a knitting pattern. My latest phase is socks – it doesn’t matter that it takes almost a week to make just one (sock not a pair!) but there’s just something so pleasing about the way they go round and round on the needles, like infinity…
And I’m by no means the only one. In 2020, with more time on our hands, and anxiety on the rise, more and more of us learnt to knit. There is just something so satiating about creating row after row of consistency, following repetitive actions and soothing yourself by looking at soft pastels and fluffy bundles. Having an end product that you can feel proud of is also very satisfying at a time when other things in the world are less reliable.
As my anxiety and then my productivity, especially over the Christmas period, increased, I decided to add a Cosy Knits Collection to my shop. It’s a creative outlet for me but also I have used patterns and materials that make me happy, make me feel cosy and safe and are pleasing on the eye, as well as being useful. I hope that you find something you like, there really are some wonderful personal gifts that have all been crafted with love.
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