TOTALITIES

Slow waves of rustling paper, whispering gently as you knit. A field of wheat laid before you with a gentle breeze blowing through. A blank piece of paper, waiting for the brush of ink against it, for text, letters, words, numerals to be drawn across it, and a manuscript of the garment written. A weight, barely perceptible, but there none the less. A colour, rich in depth, drawing into it's deepness through simple textures, shadows which are cast, the void spaces between stitches, the light which falls through it.

I am getting to know this piece (Chinese Pullover in Shosenshi linen paper) very, very well. I've started it. And started it again. And started it again, not quite getting the width right, faltering between two ideals of how it should look and it's shape. In the end I've stopped trying to 'make' it and have tried to let it make itself. I wont even pretend I am being successful at that, but I'm trying. The quintessential philosophy for dealing with Habu. Let it guide and let it become what it needs to become. I've been thinking about this all morning, after reading Jane's post about her fledgling Habu affair. I have paraphrased some of my comment on that post in parts here, because she got me thinking, and today, apparently, I am verbose. Jane mentions hysteria - hysterical calmness which envelopes and I think one of the things I love about knitting with Habu (perhaps we can make that a verb - to habu) is it's effect on how you knit. There is a slightly hysterical trance of 'oneness' when you habu, a connection to the fibre and the process of creating another fabric with it as you knit, how it feels and moves, what it sounds like, and what the final piece might feel like on, wear like, or behave once movement is applied to it. It is totality of project - sensory in every respect, and one which, from past experience with both lamb linen and stainless steel, continues well past the knit experience. You can't not delve within it's depths and be carried away with it. You can't not become absorbed with the play of material, and the feel of each stitch through your fingers.

Once again I am loving this process of making. So totally opposite to some of the other things I am doing - my dichotomous affair with texture continues.

Comments

[M-H]

I am about to habu for the first time...

[tyler]

beautifully written as always. i do love the poetry you find interwoven in the making and touching of things.

am thinking of ways that habu lives in my life...

[Raina]

I just ordered my very first Habu kit ever - kit 57....can't wait...I hope I get that same feeling...

[kirsten]

to habu.
perfect.
[and i am loving the lamb linen and the sensory delights therein.]

[stinkerbell]

I like reading when you are verbose... compares nothing to when I go on an Ayn Rand binge though :)
maybe I should make a trip to Habu at some stage here...

[Creature of Habit]

Well, between this post, Jane's post and Kirsten's pullover.....I am truly inspired. We are going to NYC in a few weeks time and I will be making a stop at Habu.

In particular, I am intrigued by this Shosenshi paper.....

[Olga]

Amen, Alison!
Because this is exactly how I feel and constantly drawn to that HABU, because it is selling not only yarn, but the whole fibery experience... and I am not afraid to compare that after working with these magnificent fibers.. conventional yarn just loses its color and appeal.. like an addict I take Habu "fixes", so I can go on working with regular every day things for designing...
I have just washed my seamed tunic.. buttons are on next =)

[Carson]

Coming to a venue near you:
Habu and the Dichotomous Affairs.

I hear they rock.

[amisha]

this is the most wonderful description, al... the totality of texture and material and movement and you, the maker, as a part of it all. and i love the idea of the verb: to habu.
xox