I'll start by saying that I have no problem with any particular scarf yarns, nor with the people that knit with them. I know a lot of people have knitted with scarf yarn and, if you have, this rant is not aimed at you, it's aimed at the current prevalence of scarf yarns. No offence is intended to anyone.
Now that's out of the way, on with the opinionated rant...
Over the last year, scarf yarns have become huge. Every yarn shop now carries several and I'm not going to argue that they don't have their place in the knitter's stash. However there's something that annoys me about scarf yarns and it's taken me a while to realise what it is.
It's just one word: scarf
This is not about scarves. I am a worryingly prolific scarf knitter. I have three whole racks of scarves in my house. No, this is about the idea that the yarn is for a scarf and only a scarf. Do we go nuts for kits? No we do not. I think we generally see them as a perfectly good gift for a novice knitter but, other than that, we're not interested. So what is it about the kit-without-needles that is Can Can or Kidsilk Creation that makes us suddenly feel the need to knit a scarf that is carbon-copy identical to a thousand other scarves that are out there?
I don't know, but I do know that I feel sad every time I see a ball of scarf yarn.
What I love about knitting, the thing that gets me truly passionate about the craft, is the sheer limitless scope of what you can create. Your imagination is the limit. Okay, there are scarves and hats and jumpers but also chair covers and shopping bags and ties and wooly covers for tanks and yarn bombing projects and knitted bike covers and who knows what else! That's the truly beautiful thing about a ball of yarn, it could become anything in the hands of a person with the vision to shape it.
Even the scarves and hats and gloves that are made to well-worn patterns will have the little personal touches. Maybe a little longer, a few beads, 2×2 rib, exotic stripes or beautifully blended colour. You could put something I've made next to someone else's project in exactly the same wool and I'd bet nine times out of ten I'd be able to spot which was mine.
What makes me sad about scarf yarn is the fact that - with a very few exceptions - that scarf yarn will be a scarf. It will be as wide as every other scarf. It will be as long as every other scarf. It will look like every other scarf. Surely all yarn deserves a more ambiguous destiny?
Don't get me wrong, the overall effect and the yarns themselves are genius works of imagination. The luscious ripples of Can Can and the lacy, looping halo of Kidsilk creation are fascinating and unique. The attempts at non-brand imitations go to show just how hard it is to get these yarns just right. But that's where the creativity ends in a sea of uniform scarves.
They may as well have come out of a factory because half the work and all the originality has already been produced for you in those factories.
So do I have anything good to say about scarf yarns? Yes, I do. I really, truly hope that the wide availability of scarf yarns and the dependability of the results help to introduce more people to knitting. I hope that people see that they can enjoy using their hands and their minds to create something that is all their own. I hope that they take that feeling of achievement and seek it out again and again. As most of our knitting group know to their cost, it doesn't take much to make a person into a yarn snob!
This rant has been on my mind for a while. I've been more and more annoyed at the ever increasing range in scarf yarns in all the shops. And at the ONE pattern that's suggested on Ravelry for kidsilk Creation. And at the identical scarves I see on the street.
And now, I've had enough. Scarf yarn has been on my mind for so long that it has become a challenge. It taunts me. It says: if you think you can do better then prove it.
I've bought a ball of Can Can and it's absolutely not going to be a scarf.
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