I Don’t Sample Anymore b y
I
’ve always been a good girl. I didn’t do drugs in high school or college (and that’s when drugs meant beer and cigarettes); I didn’t join the war protests or get arrested at Woodstock; I graduated with honors in literature at a time when women were expected to be secretaries or schoolteachers before marriage. Now that collecting Social Security checks is in my near future, I’m jumping over a few fences, breaking down a few walls, and wondering if it’s too late to make up for lost time. One thing is for sure: I really don’t have time to sample. Now to be fair, there’s nothing wrong with sampling, whether it’s for spinning or baking cookies. Making a sample before launching into a large project is a way to identify issues and make adjustments. And to the folks with the persistence and good sense to make samples, spin yards of yarn before beginning, carefully wash and block a swatch before knitting, thread up a small warp on the loom before beginning the large blankets, I say, “More power to you!” But for me, I no longer have the time or patience to be good. I simply spin and love the feel of fibers flowing through my hands. I enjoy a zen-and-the-art-of-motorcyclemaintenance feeling as yarn magically forms between my hands from a basket of fluff. The wonderful accumulation of thread on the bobbin and yarn in the basket, the beautiful colors and enticing textures, all that is sufficient in itself. My spinning epiphany happened when I realized that I didn’t need a pattern anymore. The answers came slowly, over a period of years: from a class with my hero (though she doesn’t know
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Les l ie Ann Haue r it) Kathryn Alexander; from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books and articles; from books like Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’s Knitting in the Old Way. Gradually I lost my fear (of flyers) with the realization that knitting patterns are like recipes— merely suggestions. There is no reason to fit the yarn to a pattern when the pattern can be made to fit the yarn. This was a very hard habit to break at first—I spent years of knitting and purchasing specific yarn for a specific pattern. When I became a beginning
activity in my life. Spinning led me to my first step toward independence— abandoning patterns. I used many of the first yarns that I made in a rug in which the multiple fibers added interesting textures, and irregular sizes in yarns could be adjusted by using multiple strands. Knitting socks is so much easier from the toe up—it allows for the length of the sock to be adjusted along the way. And I always knit two socks at once, so that I can be sure I have enough yarn to work an equal distance on each. Lace knitting is a no-gauge winner because there is no set of rules to specify the size or length. I make triangle shawls that start with a couple of stitches and just increase until I reach the desired dimension (or I run out of yarn!). Sweaters must fit, of course, but there are options for the no-gauge approach. Start from the top and knit down. There’s no reason why a pattern can’t Illustration by Benjamin S. Clarke be adjusted to fit the yarn, rather than spending tedious hours to produce a yarn to fit a prespinner, I had to break out of my comordained scheme. Knit up a swatch to fort zone of working with the correct determine the most appealing fabric size yarn for the pattern because I had and then measure the gauge. Adjust the all this irregularly sized yarn, and I pattern based upon the yarn’s gauge, didn’t know how to go about finding a with simple calculations from the garpattern with suitable gauge to use it. ment’s measurements. But eventually, I found that working I still fold my husband’s socks and without a pattern was liberating artistipay the bills on time—but there are cally and intellectually. other parts of my life where I am comSo I don’t sample. I work with fibers pletely willing to question the recipe. that are beautiful and feel wonderThis is my confession. I don’t sample ful, and I make yarn that seems approand don’t plan to start anytime soon, priate to the fiber. And I don’t agonize because I make what I love and love over variations in the yarn thickness or what I make. z twist, because if uniformity and consisLeslie Ann Hauer spins, weaves, and knits in West tency were the goals for me, I’d still be Richland, Washington. After nearly thirty years of buying yarn rather than spinning it. practice, she continues to find challenges in these crafts. Spinning has been the most freeing