Knots and Yarn Sculptures

When my wrist decided it wasn't going to crochet anymore, I panicked. I had all this yarn, all this creative energy, and now what would I do?

So I cut off a piece of my favorite yarn, Island Cotton from Henry's Attic, and started tying knots in it. Then I cut off another piece and tied knots in that. Then I cut of a third piece and used it to tie the first two pieces together.

Before I realized what I was doing, I had made a small yarn sculpture.

Now that I'm more aware of what I'm doing, I deliberately make yarn sculptures. I take pieces of store-bought yarn and tie them into shapes, round shapes since that's what the yarn likes to do. Sometimes I make the shapes like a long, slightly wild chain, and sometimes I try to make my shapes more spherical. I get a particularly pleasing effect with mohair, as it shimmers in the light.

Then I decided to make yarn sculptures with my handspun. Now this is what my overspun, curly yarn was born to be! It curls in on itself, it curls around other curls, it swings in the wind, it wraps itself around my hand, and it lies on the floor like some organic creature from a very strange planet.

I also make sculptures from my handspun fleece. These pieces are looser, but they're so much fun to play with! They're elastic enough to be pulled and twisted, and they feel wonderfully furry.

For as long as I can remember, I've been looking for a way to express myself that was simple and yet infinitely flexible. I think I may have found it.