But is it Art?

The title for this post comes from the name of a shop in Reading which I used to visit when I was a student in the 1980s but was still trading the last time I was there.  It sums up the thoughts I have been having about knitting this week.  I think some knitting should be considered to be art.

Last weekend I finally cast off the simple shawl that I had been knitting.  In the end I did not go back to the original pattern – I just did 4 rows of garter stitch and cast off.  I am very happy with the end result and have been wearing it today.

This morning I delivered my World War 1 Memorial quilt to Oxford Yarn Store.  It will be on display there shortly and can be seen until the end of November.  I expect I will visit it a few times but I will officially be there on Armistice weekend – on Saturday 10 November.

As I knew I was going to be visiting the yarn store I had thought about what I am going to knit next and what extra yarn I might need.    While I was clearing out – I found several balls of Noro Kureyon in autumnal shades.   It is officially called Shade 263.   I thought I would use it to knit a jumper from the Noro book – 30^th Anniversary Collection.  

I needed a main colour to go with the Kureyon and I decided to go for West Yorkshire Spinners Chunky Roving Re: treat in a light brown shade.  I did give some consideration to using blue so the jumper would go with my jeans or some whacky colour like mauve for a major contrast – but I decided on an unexciting colour to show off the Kureyon.  

It is interesting that although Kureyon is supposed to be Aran weight yarn – I have chosen a chunky yarn to go with it and in fact the chunky is actually thinner.  Something I have learned from many years of knitting – is that it is a good thing to be flexible. 

I am definitely going to cast on this jumper later on today.  I know I said I was going to make a bag – and I have got the yarn out and roughed out a pattern – but I want to think about it a bit more before I start on that.  Maybe next week…