I’ve been browsing knitted bookmarks today, and I really love what I see. If you don’t have a ravelry account yet, go get one. I’ll wait.
My love for bookmarks is almost as big as my love for books. But there’s a constant problem that bothers me. Even though some are very, very flat, they all seem far too bulky for my precious books.
Kiersten Brandt’s “Backbone Bookmark”, by DonGinzu |
There are cabled bookmarks, thick rope-like bookmarks (albeit thin ropes…), braided bookmarks and even beaded bookmarks.
The last one bothers me the most, even though the thickness of all of the above are disturbing. Beads would wreak havoc on book pages. Sure, there’s a certain charm to worn books at times, but aren’t they worth more than that?
I’m in the books-are-sacred tribe of people, I avoid getting the slightest crease on the back of the books, or scrape along the corners – if you lend me a book, and it has the slightest scuffing on it when I give it back, I’ll offer to buy you a new one, and feel bad about the damage. (While a coworker looked at the book with suspicion and slight disappointment – convinced I hadn’t opened it at all)
Leigh Myer’s “Leaf me alone” |
If you’ve ever had a treasured book from your childhood where a part has come off from wear, and you know that buying a new one just won’t be the same, you should know what I’m talking about. A book can live for ever if cared for. Even pocket books. It gets really difficult when you get those bible-page-thin books from the way back times, with leather covers imprinted with gold that will come off just from holding the book in your hands for too long, but it can be done.
I’m derailing completely here, but the point is I keep seeing things I want but can’t have. And I’ve been given a lot of things of the same type. A gorgeous gecko paperclip bookmark, a pretty clover book thong, a gorgeous leafy cross stitch piece… All abusive. Too abusive for me. Even tatted ones, if made with the thickness us average lazy bums use.
But perhaps, if I use really super thin, soft lace yarns, I could knit myself a pretty bookmark that could actually be used.