Mind Control

Sometimes, it controls you. It takes hold of your mind and makes you do things. You don't want to do these things, but it happens. Your senses are no longer yours. It makes you do its bidding.

I'm talking about yarn.

Anyone who has had this experience, please stand up.

Thank you for being honest.

My latest project was created from some Mirasol Tupa.

It started with the yarn purchase. I got them at The Loop in Calgary last year, during their grand opening sale.

Me: Hello, yarn!  

Yarn: Hello, stranger. Will you take us home?

Me: Hmm... I like the inky blackness of the black, but I also like you in cream. 

Yarn: Is blackness a word? 

Me: I dunno... 

Yarn: Just take both of us home. 

Me: I dunno...

Yarn: Come on... do it.. dooooooo it... 

Me: Oh... ok... 

Last September, before our trip to Utah, I dithered about whether or not I should take it with me. I knew I wanted to make something with it, but I just didn't know what. Since I hadn't decided on a project yet, I thought I'd better leave it behind...

Me: Yarn, you can't come with me. 

Yarn: But why? Whyyyyyy? 

Me: I don't know what to do with you yet. You'll just take up space. 

Yarn: But we're squishable. Go ahead... squish us... 

Me: Well... 

Yarn: Squish us... squiiiiiiiish us... 

Me: Oh... ok...

And I swear it wrapped itself around my hand and forced itself into my travel bag. But it didn't get made into anything. I wound it into balls during the long drive, and when I came home, I placed it on my shelf. It stayed there, waiting for me, but it didn't leave me alone. I would walk past it, and I would hear:

Yarn: Plaaaaay with us. 

Me: Huh? 

Yarn: Plaaaaay with us. We're waiting for you. 

Me: But... but... I don't have any plans for you yet. 

Yarn: Plaaaaay with us...

And then, I'd spend the next few nights, tossing and turning before I fell asleep, trying to figure out what to do with it.

Finally, a couple of months ago, I figured out what I was going to do with this yarn: a cowl with creamy, leafy patterns and a stretch of inky black simplicity. It came to me as I was falling asleep one night, and when I got up, I picked out the stitch patterns and started working on it. I knitted and ripped out stitches over and over again until I could replicate what was in my mind. Even when I wasn't working on it, the yarn spoke to me: Plaaaaaaay with us...

And finally, it is finished. And I am very, very happy with it...

... even if it is kinda... looking at me...