Picking up threads


Knitting never happens quickly. By necessity it is a slow and thoughtful process. There are quicker knits and we all occasionally need the sort of gratification that comes from perhaps a hat, knitted on largish needles, finished while watching an exciting film, requiring little attention from the knitter.


When I first returned to knitting I was impatient, I worked on baby projects, rarely 4ply and I was a fan of big wool knitted on chunky needles. Goodness, how my knitting preferences have changed. Somewhere along the way my priorities have changed, it is no longer just about the finished item but nowadays it is very much about the actual process of knitting. Of course I still need quick to gratify projects, baby knits remain close to my heart, the perfection of a tiny, completed object or a pair of socks is never far from my needles but I also need something long and slow. Something requiring concentration and patience. Something to lose myself in, something which cannot be multi-tasked. This sort of knitting is essential for my sanity. It soothes my worries, it works magic on my troubles, it's like yoga on the sofa.


Some types of knitting are more therapeutic than others, lace can be especially soothing once you become involved in the pattern, the constant counting and checking for lost stitches is in some way reminiscent of worry beads. You have to put your external worries out of your mind when knitting lace otherwise your tensions come out in your stitches.

My experience of Habu yarns seems to place them very much in the realms of therapy knitting. Holding two strands of thread which unwind slowly from beautiful cones, working long swathes of stockinette on 3mm needles is absorbing, addictive, soothing.

Habu Kit-24. Not a quick knit, thank goodness.


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