Metamaking

No, this has nothing to do with social media or politics, I promise!

We’re so Meta

Eight million years ago, when I was a philosophy major in college, I took a class in Metaphilosophy.

I can’t say I remember a whole lot about that class aside from a few names and some scattered concepts, but I DO remember the trippy feeling of studying the study of the field I was studying. We were so very esoteric and self-referential. And as philosophers tend to consider their field a primary science from which all other studies are derived, there was an air of significance to it all, as well. It was nice to experience for a short time, considering the most common philosophy joke I’ve heard since graduating is, “with that degree, at least you know how to ask WHY someone might want fries with that.”

Now I hear “meta” used all the time in reference to anything self-referential or deeply layered or complex. It seemed appropriate to describe our Beast to Blanket activity this week as we doubled down on our fiber arts making skills to make some crucial tools.

MetaMakers R Us

For our third class meeting, we made our own knitting needles. We’ll use these personalized knitting needles to knit the yarn we dyed in Week One into the squares for our class blanket final project. We’re making the stuff we’re going to use to make something out of the stuff we already made. Meta.

The needles are simple to make with just a few easy-to-acquire items. I ordered these colored dowels online because I thought they’d be even more fun than plain ones, but the clay and dowels are available at most craft and super stores. We also used a pencil sharpener, craft glue, and sanding blocks. I chose 3/16″ dowels, which is just about the same as a US size 8 knitting needle. I find size 7 or 8 needles along with worsted weight yarn (the weight we dyed Week One) to be the easiest for small hands to use when learning how to knit.

The students chose a pair of dowels and then sharpened one end of each in the sharpener. I’ve used a cheap handheld pencil/crayon sharpener as well as an electric sharpener in the past. I liked the combination of speed and control with this one, though, especially considering there were eleven students using one sharpener.

Be warned, the points get very sharp. We dulled them down with sanding blocks both for safety and to prevent their needles from continually splitting their yarn when they learn to knit with them. They don’t need that added frustration when they’re trying to learn new fine motor skills. We also used the blocks to smooth out any rough parts of the dowels.

The next step was for the students to make the toppers for their needles. They were so creative! My example set had a relatively boring ball with sparkly polka dots on each needle, but that didn’t stunt these kids from sculpting things that were meaningful to them. You may be able to deduce that this class was taught during football season, just before the Super Bowl, and there are Kansas City Chiefs fans in the class.

I brought the completed toppers home with me and baked them according to the package directions and will get them glued on so they have plenty of time to dry before they’re needed for the knitting lessons in a few weeks.

Before we get to knitting, though, we’re going to spend a little time learning some weaving techniques. We’ll be making rope and fabric, with the idea of sparking the imagination of these students towards what it would have been like to make these materials for household or farm use, or even for sailing the seas!

Meta Fiber Nerd

It seems I’ve even gone meta at home. There’s no escaping the fiber references.

They make me smile every time I see them.

Less Meta, More Knitting

I got to spend some time with the needles this week, which was delightful. We had a breathtakingly beautiful couple of days in the high 60s followed by a brutal cold snap, which must be what inspired me to get Ysolda’s Musselburgh hat on the needles, finally.

This is a brilliant design for a double thick stocking hat knit in one piece then folded so you have a smooth right side against your noggin AND showing to the outside world all at once, without a seam. Even better, you figure your gauge as you go, so you can pretty much just sit and get going as soon as you have yarn and needles in hand.

I’ve admired it for a while and I’m loving the mindless stockinette section I’m on. It’s a great counterpoint project to the other one I’m working on right now, which is a little fussier. I started this hat on double point needles, which was fine, but I think I’m going to switch over to a circular and continue on magic loop. I don’t need the constant mild anxiety of possibly losing loops off the end of these shortish needles.

This is the other project that is trading time with the hat. It’s a happy little textured baby blanket I’m basing off a swatch from a Japanese Stitch Dictionary* book I adore.

What are you working on today?

Happy knitting!

Kiersten J

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