Since that first fateful day I saw Lexi Boeger's web site, pluckyfluff, and spent hours looking at outrageous handspun, I was completely sold on art yarns.  I was hooked like a crack addict, sometimes going back two or three times a day just to see if she had posted a new creation I could gawk at in wide-eyed-wonder.  She opened the door to my fiber obsession, which prompted me to finally try my simple drop spindle.  When I finished my first skein, I immediately moved on to my yard sale "find"-- a wheel--and hit the ground running.   At the time, I approached spinning sideways--I didn't knit.  I knew nothing of gauge or ply or wpi.  I could crochet the basics from what Grandma and Mom taught me as a child, but I really didn't care what to do with these yarns, I just knew I wanted to know how to make them, and had to learn some basics before jumping off the cliff into the relative oblivion.  While I stashed a few, I admit that most of my first creations were sold, and actually USING some of the yarns myself would come later...

It has been a few years since I attended that  first-ever camp pluckyfluff East in October 2005 in rural PA.  For two glorious days we socialized, spun, ate together, watched and learned new techniques from the yarn diva herself, as well as the rest of the great group of spinners, most of whom are still making the fun stuff.  At that time, there were probably under 25 people round the globe who were adventurous enough to make these crazy yarns.  Many traditional spinners frowned on the idea of yarn that wasn't consistent enough to follow a pattern with.  Of course, those people still exist, and I feel sad for them that they can't drop their patterns and just create. Today, one quick browse of Etsy will show you that art yarn has moved into the mainstream.  Scores of gorgeous handspun are just waiting to be turned into something playful and fun if you're willing to take a leap of faith!

All of which, in a roundabout way, brings me back to a great blog post by Bobbi of kittygrrlz and kittygrrlsknits, which inspired me to write this post.  Her yarn is gorgeous, spanning from shiny bamboo singles to fun and playful art yarns with jewel tones to inspire even the most unimaginative knitter.  I have had the joy of using some of her yarn and can only say "yummmmmy".  Her post shows several simple ideas for projects that use a single skein of yarn.  She also features two beautiful neckwarmers knit by the talented spinner, knitter and bead artist Naomi of knottynaomi fame.  So go take a look and drop your patterns already, and just start knitting.  There are plenty of beautiful yarns to be had!!

I'll leave you with a sample of my project--crochet without a pattern, of course--recently uploaded to Etsy, featuring a simple bamoo singles by Kittygrrlz with a matching commercial ribbon yarn carried along alternately: