Photo Essay: A Skein of Yarn (Almost) Becomes a Hat
Note: The author highly suggests listening to Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years while reading this essay.
A skein of yarn can go on a hero’s journey before it becomes a finished object. This skein of “A Thousand Years,” started its life at Molly Girl Yarns where Angela Cronin interpreted the song from the Twilight movies into yarn.
It then made its way to Vogue Knitting Live to be bought by a patron there. It would then sit in the knitter’s yarn stash while they looked for the perfect pattern. This is the fate of many yarns.
But not this one.
This skein has waited long enough. It was finally got to meet the gatekeepers of the road to becoming anything but string: a ball winder and a swift.
The yarn was supported on the swift and then passed through two holders on the ball winder where it was folded in on itself to become a center-pull ball. As this was happening though, the yarn realized there were some weak points. It was no longer a continuous string and its multiple ends caused it to wrap around the center of the swift.
By the time it was done interacting with the swift and the ball winder it was no longer one continuous ball but two, with three small children. Still usable, but not the most convenient anymore.
But the knitter knows what to do in this situation and so they press on, gathering the other materials the yarn will need to meet along the way.
From here the knitter will cast on stitches, setting up the base for what will be the hat. In the case of this pattern, it’s the seam of the hat they’ll work with first. She adds a stitch marker to the beginning of the circle and begins the first rounds of stitches that will ultimately build to two inches of ribbing.
Slowly the knitting grows, and grows, and grows. All the while Wynonna Earp is on in the background.
With the brim complete the knitter can then change to a larger size needle to create a drape for the body of the hat. It’s starting to take shape.
Less than ten rows in the knitter realizes that there’s a mistake several rows down and begins unraveling the work slowly and then begins replacing it back on the needles. But that’s okay, because at the end of the day, no matter how many times this knitter screws up the project there is still string and sticks. It will be a hat eventually; it's just one step closer.
Credits
Yarn: Molly Girl Yarns Rockstar DK in “A Thousand Years”
Pattern: Dots and Lines by Justyna Lorkowska
