Lust

My first challenge, to design and create a yarn inspired by that most pervasive, persuasive, and perhaps perverse of sins - lust, or luxuria as it was listed back in the days when the list was first being drawn-up.

Hieronymous' Bosch work 'Seven Deadly Sins and Four Last Things'
thought to have been painted, oil on wood, around 1500.

Here, in a portion of a painting by the famous Dutch painter, Hieronymous Bosch, we're shown these people engaging in the sin of 'luxuria'. Obviously there's food and drink a-plenty, and music too if the harp on the floor's anything to go by. One can only speculate as to the antics of some of the other folk! What is clear, though, is that Bosch's concept extends beyond the sexual and into the desire, to excess, of anything sensual, to the luxurious. Slaanesh, sometimes known as The Prince of Pleasure, from the mythos of 'Warhammer 40k' would be Luxuria deified.

In thinking about these things I realised that it would be all too easy to end up with a finished yarn that could easily double for many of the other sins, especially those of greed or gluttony, and so I have decided to focus on the more modern interpretation - the sin of the flesh, carnal appetites. Yes, I know, that traditionally 'carnal' simply means 'of the flesh' and that greed, gluttony etc could both be said to be 'of the flesh as well' but I have to draw the line somewhere!

In some regards those sins to do with the senses, with look and with touch, are--to me--those most easily rendered in fibre form. After all, what first attracts us to a new skein of yarn other than its colour? We see it hanging on a peg, or see a ball nestling nicely on a shelf all bright and jewel-like, or rich and earthy, and we hurry over....what do we do next? We have to feel it of course, we imagine how soft (or perhaps not??) it would feel against the skin and we're hooked. Colour is such a powerful thing, it's all around us and speaks to the most primitive parts of the brain.

Colour forms an important part in attracting a potential mate, whether this is brightly coloured baboon behinds or in the hundreds upon thousands of cosmetic products that are now available to adorn our bodies. So what colour is lust?

Alluring baboon bottom, well...alluring to other
baboons.

Red was the obvious choice - the colour of Valentine's roses, love-hearts and all of that stuff but on further contemplation I decided on ruddy pinks, soft skin and the likes as these are shades I usually choose to work with. To compliment these shades I'll be choosing soft fibres, something with some lustre to it - silk maybe. These will be the 'body' of my yarn, and for interest...well, I'm going to try and dress it up with a cheeky bit of black lace.

I'm going out at the weekend to pick up some supplies, I'm looking forward to getting started - that's what'll be in the next installment! There'll be wool, and silk and art.