There is no right answer in knitting, or in life

But there are some things that feel better than others

One of my favorite sayings is: there are no knitting police.

We are free to knit in whatever way feels good for our bodies: maybe that’s as a thrower, or maybe it’s as a picker, or maybe you knit in a different way. (I’m a uncommon left-handed thrower!) Maybe you knit with straight needles, or maybe you prefer circulars. Maybe you always follow patterns precisely as written, or maybe you’ve never followed a pattern as written.

No one is going to tell you that you’re knitting the wrong way. You might want to learn how to do something, but, honestly?, there is no single right way to do anything. Not even knitting designers have a “right way” of writing knitting patterns or teaching technique.

And it’s not just knitting.

There are few rules on how to move through this world. When presented with the same set of circumstances, we might make completely different decisions about the right thing to do. When my son was a baby, lots of parents at the playground valued adventure and would happily let their baby nap in the car or whenever or where-ever needed. But I value coziness and routine, so we always came home for naps in the house. There wasn’t a Right Answer, there was just right for me.

This is something my knitting has reinforced for me, especially these past number of years. There isn’t an overarching right answer to nearly anything, but there are things that feel better to me than others. Knowing what these things are—and no longer trying to make myself fit into the box of normative culture—has been so freeing.

Being careful about what I consume with my brain feels better than mindless consumption of opinions, social media, or news from every outlet.

Seeing beauty beyond the status quo feels better than uncritically consuming the images the world wants to serve me.

Being careful to build my circle around people who are expansive and non-binary in their thinking feels better to me.

Trying my absolute best to do no harm feels better than consuming influencer content that mostly benefits folks who already have the most power and privilege.

Finding the hobbies, the thoughts, the values, and the principles that make you feel most nourished and most alive? This is the work of a lifetime. This is your work, and this is our work as humans. For me, I find there is a nobility in making things with my hands. I feel it every time I sit down to write this mini-essay for you, when my words come through my hands. I feel it when I sit down to knit a sweater that will keep me warm. I am spending my time and using my labor (even if that labor is pleasurable) to both make a thing and to imbue it with love.

I once made a sarcastic joke to my husband about a neighbor, who has a business of collecting scrap metal, something about noise and unsightliness. He said to me, “there is dignity in all work,” and, with this, he reminded me of my own values. It can be easy, in the moment, to forget what matters. But, there are countless small and inadvertent ways we can undermine the big things we believe in—and countless small ways we can reinforce them.

There is dignity in all work. There is nobility in working with one’s hands. There is so much in simply knitting.

Let’s talk transitional season yarns

It’s not quite fall, but I hope you can feel a crisp in the morning air, like I do. It’s almost times for all the bougie, basic things I love like pumpkin spice lattes, eating honeycrisp apples, and taking pictures of my boots in piles of leaves.

This summer, I immersed myself in a larger project to find warm weather (and warm body) friendly yarns. I want to wear my knitwear during all seasons, not just our upcoming cozy season. As my own body relaxes into menopause, I find I'm more comfortable in lighter-weight sweaters and tops. I explored a cotton/wool and y’all happily fell for Dolce just as hard as I did, so that base will for sure be back in my shop in all the colors this spring.

This week, I have the very last of my experimental bases to share with you. Please meet Lino alpaca/linen/silk. I haven’t yet knit a garment with it, but I have swatched extensively and, oh my friends, you’re going to love this.

It’s a transition season yarn! It’s perfect for fall (and spring) layering garments. Think vests and flowy, lightweight tops that you wear a t-shirt under. (I’m going to make a Wool & Pine Rockhound Vest).

I dyed a small capsule of colors inspired by Aja Barber’s Patreon discussion of London Fashion Week colors. They’re available now, and if they go quickly, I can plan at least one restock of this base during the fall.

This yarn is not elastic like wool, but it’s a super interesting blend of warm and cool fibers: It’s 50% baby alpaca, 25% linen and 25% tussah silk. (Baby alpaca has a micron count of 20 to 23, making it comparable in softness to most merino wools.)

The texture of the yarn is what makes it unique, though: it's rustic and silky at the same time, with a fibrous halo. I took this shot with my macro lens to help you see how the linen content influences things:

Sometimes I wonder whether my closing “well-wishes” are redundant (which they are), but then I remember it’s okay to come back to important things, over and over. So, this week, as I have so done many other weeks before, I wish rest and ease and nourishment for you. I hope you have plenty of time to knit, and plenty of time for the things to consume what life has to offer in the particular way that makes your brain and your body feel better.

With love,
Anne