Turns out I am like that

I like to think I’m largely immune to knitting fads. That when everybody is making something, that I make it or not, based on my own whims… not because I’m falling victim to some version of knitting peer pressure. I don’t like to think of myself as a sheep, someone who’s falling for a yarn because everybody else is, or liking a pattern because everyone else does. That means that sometimes I know I resist something just because everyone else likes it, which is really, really stupid, because when you think of it, not liking something because other people do is just as lame as liking something because other people do and isn’t really any more of a statement of my individuality. (Yes. I’m 40. Yes, I’m just getting that now. Yes – I’m sometimes as sharp as jello. Got it.)

That means that last year when the Noro striped scarf made the rounds, even though I really, really liked it – I didn’t knit it. Kate did. Norma did. Mary Tess did. Monika did. Trish did. Cheryl did. Teresa did. Brooklyn Tweed did, and that one was really hard to resist, because he could photograph a pile of dog doo and make it look like it was elegant and interesting. Alarming Female did. Mollie did. Maryse did. Carole did. Miriam did. Nelson did. Andi did. Sandy did. Kate did. Kay did. Kmkat did. Jackie did. Jessie did. Anny did. Courtney did. Cassie did. Everybody did… or at least it seemed that way to me. (Also – doesn’t the word “did” look funny to you now?)

I didn’t. I resisted. All I did was look at the Silk Garden Noro every time that I went into a yarn shop. Not for any reason though, because I’m not like that. Then I put it in my Ravelry queue. Not for any reason though. Just so I could sometimes look at it and think about it – and I did think about it. I would think about it, notice that there were 1841 knitters who had already knit it (that’s a real number- taken right from this scarf’s Ravelry link at 12:50 today) and then I wouldn’t want to anymore. I’d be over it, because I’m not like that. I’m not the type. No way. I’m an individual, and I knit to make unique things that nobody else has because that’s one of the points of knitting for me. It’s a way to get things that are unique and just mine and don’t exist anywhere else and seriously if I wanted something that was being mass produced I would just wander off to the store and buy a scarf – for less money even.

Then I noticed that every single one of those scarves – go click on those names – or flip through this Flikr group… I’ll wait here.

They are all different. All of them. There aren’t two the same. Even if two knitters used the same colourways they ended up different because the yarn came together another way. It’s a beautiful thing – and all those scarves are a beautiful thing. There isn’t an ugly one in the bunch, and I had another epiphany.

Sometimes something isn’t a fad because it’s neutral enough to have broad appeal to the masses. Sometimes – it’s because it’s really, really good.

Then someone mentioned they would like a scarf for Christmas.

Then they said they loved stripes.

Then – it was just a matter of choosing from among the bizillion combinations possible. (That took three hours and a half bottle of wine) and bingo.

Noroscarfstart121108

Silk Garden #267, and #245. Which I already think might not be the best ones and I may or may not buy several more other colours before the day is over so that I can make another one.

Baa.