Obsession:

Every now and then, an otherwise lovely knitting project will transform itself into an all-consuming obsession.  It doesn’t matter how many other projects are on the needles, or what deadlines they may be facing.  No amount of self-discipline will make the knitter pick up the neglected project(s) after obsession has struck.  This situation has arisen once again at AuntyNin’s Place, and (as usual) it’s all Mmario’s fault.  

A week or so back, the Demon Enabler sent me a copy of the charts for one of his new designs, “Talia” or “Queen of the Arrows.”  Within moments of arriving at home that evening, I had rummaged through the stash, finding a cone of WEBS’ 2/14 Alpaca/silk laceweight that would be perfect for it.  Inspection of the DPN storage revealed that the only US8 double-pointed needles on hand really aren’t well suited to lace.  One set is Pony Pearls, which have rather blunt points, and the others are steel, and thus heavy and very slippery.  Since “Talia” is a circular shawl, worked from the center out, and the combination of alpaca and silk tends to be slippery itself, this presented some challenges.  After several hours of battle and copious amounts of … um … very unladylike language … I finally decided that this just was not going to work, gave up and went to bed. 

The next night, after some mental gymnastics, I got “Talia” started flat, then when she was big enough to fit around a 16” circular, joined the rows and sailed onward.  This pattern and yarn have refused to allow me to even pick up another project when I’m knitting at home.   It just leaps out of its project bag the instant I plant myself in the Knitting Throne, demanding to be continued.  

Now that I’ve knit a little over 1/3 of the rows, it’s obvious that this is going to be a rather large shawl, probably blocking out nearly seven feet in diameter as written.  Fortunately, I was able to consult with the Demon Enabler, who suggested some places where the pattern could be altered to make it a little smaller.   Time will tell.

Y-Space:

During the aforementioned rummage through the yarn stash, besides looking for laceweight, I was trying to find a particular hank of sock yarn that I knew I had put in there.   I know the one I sought had entered the stash room at one point, as it was one of the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club yarns.  Could I find it?  Nope.  I did, however, unearth two skeins that I would swear I'd never seen before.   

Looking  at the two “where did that come from?” hanks, my first instinct was to blame “Great Uncle Rupert” (my house ghost) for removing the one I wanted and replacing it with the two I’d never seen before.   Then I remembered the concept of “Polyfractal L-Space” as put forth by Terry Pratchett in Guards!  Guards! He expressed the notion that large masses of books, such as contained in libraries and bookstores, warp space-time in such a way that all of them are connected.  He further postulated that those who have been properly trained can walk “behind the shelves” from one to another. 

Terry, not being a knitter (to the best of my knowledge), didn’t take this concept quite far enough.  How many times has a knitter unearthed something in his/her/its stash that looked totally unfamiliar?  From my reading of various blogs, it seems like it happens quite often.  At the same time, yarns that you know ought to be there are nowhere to be found. 

My theory is this:  all accumulations of yarn are connected through Y-Space.  Yarn must therefore be a migratory species, by its very nature attuned to the pathways of this interdimensional space and able to wander from stash to stash at will.  Most yarns, of course, tend to be sedentary and perhaps fearful of this wandering, which is why most of what you find in your stash is in fact yarn you’ve put there.  Some yarns, however, just refuse to stay where they’re put, and seek out stashes more congenial to themselves. 

Check it out yourselves - my stash room can't possibly be the only one where yarns appear and disappear without human intervention.