I stumbled upon two online essays/articles today devoted to unraveling: a haunting and lovely essay by new author Stephanie Danler (for mature audiences only) and a Wall Street Journal article featuring folk who like to untangle crazy messes of yarn (I admit to being one of those folk).  I might have been attracted to the pieces because of:

As I’ve posted elsewhere I am starting the new year off by clearing the deck and starting on a stash-busting extravaganza of epic proportions!  Hyperbole be damned!  I vow not to purchase any new yarn this year (possible exceptions might be made for Brooks Farm at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and some Plucky that I might not be able to resist).  As I inch toward the starting line I decided I needed to make decisions about projects that had been unfinished for sometime and really needed to be unraveled.

One, the brownish/bluish underneath everything was yarn given to me by a person suffering grave, un-medicated mental illness.  Her dual diagnoses would make any trained person shudder and she has made many in my circle vulnerable at their places of employment because of her harrassment.  I realized that I really, really, REALLY dislike this yarn.  But someone else might love it so I’ve unraveled the pair of socks it was once going to become and will lovingly hand it over to another person with no experience of the kharma it carries.

The light green (a Brooks Farm exemplar) was once going to be a baby sweater for the baby I hope to one day have in my life (not from me…that ship has sailed).  I have a sweater phobia (seaming the sleeves seems to be the “issue”) and I thought that making a wee version would help me overcome this affliction.  It did not.  RRRRRRIP!

And the persimmon…such a lovely yarn from Anzula that I purchased on a trip to Fresno, CA last summer.  It simply did not look good when knitted into a banana leaf scarf.  Ghastly, actually.  There is another purpose for this delight.

As a child I loved to unknot necklace chains.  One had to be very Zen and focused to make it work.  Because I do not feel very “Zen and focused” in most of my life I find it a delight when I need to turn that on to untangle yarn.

And ready, set, go…as soon as I finish Shannon’s socks (we’re at the toe of both now) and complete the seaming of my log cabin afghan (I’m more than 50% done)!