Throughout the last year or more, I’ve managed to avoid ever typing the phrase “arm knitting” or uttering a single thing about it. There was one phase where it seemed like I couldn’t click anywhere on the Internet without encountering a mention, but I studiously avoided following any of the links or reading anything at all about the craze that was sweeping the yarn nation. The definition of arm knitting seemed self-evident, no need to click for an explanation, and I was happy to sit out the fad. Then just recently the whole thing flared up again — I started seeing rampant mentions of a book called “Knitting Without Needles” by Anne Weil, often accompanied by photos of things that were not at all horrifying. (I have no idea where my instant disdain for arm knitting came from, honestly — it’s just there in my head, involuntarily.) Saturday before last, I popped into Craft South to buy a Moroccan pillow I’d been coveting, and found that Weil was going to be doing a book signing in a matter of minutes. There I was, faced with the book itself, so I broke down and flipped through it. Assessment: not awful. I was a little bit interested to meet her but had urgent pre-Thanksgiving errands to run, so off I went. Then somehow yesterday, cruising around the web, I found myself at her blog, Flax and Twine, and more specifically at a post about this giant, fluffy, basketweave, arm-knitted charcoal grey throw. And I’m not sure I can live without it! (You know I have mega blankets on my mind.) So I might be caving in about this whole bloody arm knitting business. Have you all done it? Am I crazy to have been avoiding it this whole time? Can you live without this blanket? I need to know.
