Many knitters find their craft a tranquil and even meditative pastime—until knots and tangles in their yarn send them into a fury. But for one group of fanatics, there is nothing more satisfying than a hopelessly tangled web.
Daphne Basnet of Melbourne, Australia, once paid about $50 on eBay for a 25-pound box of snarled yarn, simply for the pleasure of untangling it. “I was so happy, I can’t tell you,” recalls the 58-year-old of her purchase, a mess of about 120 knotted balls.
…Finding such tangled treats got easier when Ms. Basnet joined Knot a Problem, a seven-year-old group of more than 2,100 “detanglers” on the online community for knitters and crocheters called Ravelry. Frustrated yarn-lovers from around the world post pleas for help undoing their knottiest knots, often created by children, pets or yarn-winding mishaps.
Devoted detanglers typically offer to take on the projects for the cost of shipping. Competition for the most maddening messes can be fierce. Some members check the group every day.
“People will jump in and say, ‘Send it to me!’ ” says Mary Enright, 56, a detangler from Sioux Falls, S.D.
Some of you may be saying “OK…” but I am more along the lines of “who am I to judge?” And there is this:
Group members like to post before-and-after photos of what they call “tangle porn.” Heaps of yarn resembling bowls of spaghetti become neat balls and cakes. “I think it’s fulfilling for people when they see what it was, sort of like house remodeling,” says Ms. Rothschild. “You see how crappy it was and how beautiful it turned out to be.”
And if you are looking for further signs of dedication:
About a dozen hard-core members celebrated by sending each other yarn to untangle, knotting up new skeins themselves if they had to.
For the pointer to the article I thank Peter Metrinko.
Marginal Counterrevolution Tuesday Assorted Links!:
http://bit.ly/1RFo3R4
New post on Against Jebel al-Lawz (involving skills, age, and race&IQ)!:
https://againstjebelallawz.wordpress.com/2015/12/22/how-literate-are-the-oecds-baby-boomers/
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we learn to counter…..
Fibre negentropy.
The IP address belonging to honkie please, datroof jackson, Lay Ropez, and several other assorted characters has, alas, been blocked from MR.
Keep up the good work, everyone. Had fun.
I had a home inspector who I am almost certain broke and damaged some things while he inspected my home. The only thing I can think is he takes pleasure in creating and then pointing out issues on inspection report so he can be the “hero.” I don’t know if that behavior is that far removed from the yarn untangling.
That sounds like job security.
If the competition is so fierce, someone should charge.
Photos and a Dutch auction?
most humans find satisfaction in small tasks that create locally minimized entropy. no stranger than a Norman Rockwell dad out pushing around the lawnmower.
Yeah. I get it. The satisfaction of bringing order out of chaos in your little corner of the universe.
Maybe this could be a therapy in nursing homes and such.
I agree. This really isn’t that weird once you think about it. Seems pretty similar to jigsaw puzzles and other hobbies/pastimes.
I agree, this is just a physical puzzle. In another universe:
“Some members of the puzzling community are so dedicated to piecing broken pictures back together that they will stamp pictures onto cardboard for the purpose of cutting them into tiny pieces that then must be pieced back together. Dedicated puzzlers use intricate shapes small enough that there are hundreds or thousands of pieces to put back together. Companies are even getting into the act, mass-producing pictures solely for the purpose of being destroyed and cut into tiny pieces, and the avid puzzlers will pay for the right to reassemble the resulting jumbles. The most hardcore puzzlers don’t care at all about the pictures and assemble their puzzles face-down, in order to make their Augean task even more difficult.”
I’m reminded of a scene from Argo…
It’s not the decrease in entropy for me, it’s the pleasure of solving a puzzle.
So you like increased order and decreased disorder?
My favorite thing about this Harding guy is that he’s always the first comment. He waits all day in fevered anticipation, mashing that F5 key so he can be the first and post his links…
“mashing that F5 key”
Mb, just script\robot?
Why, what”ya know.
I have a similar hobby.
On this comment section,
I untangle tangle porn thoughts.
And, the tangle porn is free.
I used to love doing this when I was a kid. Nothing would make me happier than a hopelessly tangled knot of kite string, or shoelaces, or christmas lights. I still enjoy untangling things.
Here. Here’s a pile of macroeconomics. Have fun!
Honestly, I totally get this. I also loved doing it as a kid.
Brian wins the thread (pun not intended!).
When I was little, I’d have knot-untying contests with my big sister. She was always better than I was, but as a result I was pretty good.
I amazed a friend after a trip to the supermarket. We’d bought some vegetables, which I put in the free plastic bags and knotted the ends of the bags. I cinched the knots tight, so they were pretty small. She was amazed when we got pack to her place that I unknotted all the bags instead of just ripping them open. “Why waste a good bag?”