Alchemy

While I've been sitting at home with my cold, or waiting for the phone to ring with offers of highly paid and fascinating employment, I've been knitting. There is something so therapeutic about the gentle interplay of needles and thread. The rhythmic click and clack, the unwinding of some more yarn from a ball or spindle, the feel of the yarn as it slides over and through your fingers. While I've been staying in and trying to gently shepherd my precious (as in scarce!) financial resources, knitting has provided a useful barrier between me and daytime tv.

Dumb tv is only half as dumb if you're only half watching.

Even better if you hit upon a project that grows like Topsy, instant gratification knitting! Two thin Japanese threads, one a slubby silk and the other a silk wrapped stainless steel filament, held together and knitted on chunkier 5mm needles. 20 stitches wide in simple garter stitch and going like the clappers!



Knit. Turn. Knit. Turn... A long, long skinny scarf with asymmetrical ends to be wound around and around, with a beautiful drape but a curious texture and heft from the stainless steel thread. A scarf that says part art fag and part this wearer knows their Rei Kawakubo from their Yohji Yamamoto. A scarf in haiku.



Not exactly spinning straw into gold but there is some sort of alchemy at work here. Stainless steel into fabric. Who would have thought?