-- A. A. Milne
The evolution of a pattern over a 3 year period
1. I found a pattern that I liked and it was really neat…a scarf that attaches to a hood to make a hooded scarf and decided to make it for a Christmas gift. It is now October.
2. After swatching I realize I’m not going to be able to deal with the back of the fabric and decide to redesign the cable to be reversible.
3. After messing up my math in every conceivable way and pulling my hair out, I chart the pattern correctly. There is much rejoicing. :)
4. The scarf is flawless and I love it. It is a joy to knit and I love the finished project. There is much happy dancing. :) It is now November.
5. Feeling on a wonderful high I use the same now tested cable pattern to replace the cable pattern on the old pattern’s hood and I am feeling pretty happy about how it looks and is making up.
6. I knit furiously finishing the hood and come to the grafting part and realize that I never took into account that:
One) the pattern grafted the two halves together so they would kinda be a blob and grow from one another and (Two) by using the reversible knitting technique in order for them to join properly the 2nd cable would have to be totally reversed from starting with a purl to the whole CF8 / CB8 mess. There was much gnashing of teeth, swearing and crying. :( It is now the day before Yule.
7. A good friend promises me in the new year she will rip the hood out with me…the salt tears are not good for the silken wool. :( It is now the day after Yule.
8. I do not have the will to reknit this hood part again and I make the scarf longer and give it as a gift and it is loved and appreciated. Happy dance. :) It is the day before Christmas.
9. During the long weekend, I scour Ravelry and my books for ideas and find another hood/scarf idea I like. I redesign the cables into smaller ones and actually get the math right on the first try. Amazement ensues. :) It is two days after Christmas.
11. I begin on the scarf section and tweak design six times before liking the smaller reversible cables. Wild cable happiness abounds. It is now February.
12. It seems the hood has a will of its own and my friend cannot rip it out to save her life. We plan a day and I make the cut that will hopefully unravel my hood and give me back my pretty Noro. It hurts but we do it and now the hood is in one big ball. I place the ball back in the stash and try and forget how much I loved that hood. :(
13. I painstakingly line by line design a hood using Cat Bordhi’s method of knitting short rows. I am hopeful this is the month I will learn how to knit her little sock. *hah* I am still happy with the scarf portion and the pattern is complete but not yet tested. Hello March…
14. I’m getting ready to start the increases for the hood and so far so good.
15. Life goes insane and creative knitting falls into the drain of disparity for the rest of the year.
16. It is February again and I have learned how to knit Cat Bordhi’s socks thanks to a knit group that I am part of. I resolve that it will help me with my hood and spend many sleepless nights worrying about “Larinking”.
17. February is ending and I have two socks to pass on and my creative mojo is coming back from its long hiatus. I feel that I can take on the world…or at least the hood.
18. March; okay I'm getting down to business here. I am fired up by the Aries energy coming in and I want to see this pattern birth into life like the blooms that are starting on the trees. Starting again with two cables running up the scarf I am excited that maybe this will be the time that I figure this all out.
The cables are pretty little things filling me with hope. I get to the hood part and I split them and everything goes as planned. *there is much rejoicing*. I decide this is enough for today and happily go to sleep.
19. Somehow it is April and I have not worked on the hood. I pick it up and totally lose everything Cat had taught me. I fiddle with short rows until I have something I can be okay with and move on.
20. My beloved Father dies suddenly and I cannot seem to knit anything that is complicated. I have to push to finish my project for my class and can't believe I managed to design something and teach it when my heart is filled with such sorrow. *side note: yes I was cheating on my hat/scarf with my cowl design...but playing with the sugar was just too tempting)*
21. June flies by and I knit here and there but charting looks too intimidating. I start doubting myself and feel like I should just rip the thing out. I am pretty down...I cry all the time in private. I talk to Dad and he tells me that I shouldn't be sad because he is still with me. Every bill I pay for Mom, every call I have to make breaks me down. But the hat/scarf is patient. It doesn't judge me and I am thankful for that.
22. We start playing Skyrim since hubby works for their parent company and we've been wanting to play for a while...I've expounded on my gaming before so this should be no surprise. I found this game slowly bringing me back to myself. It is hard to explain. But knowing I could set out and finish a Quest gave me the courage I could do another. The battle music filled me with a desire to go forward. We all get inspired in different ways: Skyrim helped me get through the melancholy haze I was in and embrace life again. While I watched my son and DH play I began to knit again with a ferocity that surprised even me.
23. With over 20 dragons under my belt, I was feeling more like my old self but quite different. I was tired of being afraid of failing, and I just jumped into my pattern and ripped the whole thing out and started over. By the end of the weekend, I had tested the cables and they looked good. By the end of the week, I was finished with the hood and the cables were back together going down the other scarf.
24. December. I bring my finished triumph to knit night and one of the girls says it is a little big. Not deterred in the least...I start working on sizes.
25. January. After so much math that I cannot comprehend if 2+2 actually equals 4 anymore; I have three sizes to show for all my work. I still need to test them which will have to stay on the back burner for a while. But I think the math will ring true when I do.
26. February. After much work and considerable effort, my beautiful hooded scarf gets a photoshoot. I am proud that I finished it. I can feel Dad smiling in Heaven.
Happy crafting,
Ruinwen
:)
The cables are pretty little things filling me with hope. I get to the hood part and I split them and everything goes as planned. *there is much rejoicing*. I decide this is enough for today and happily go to sleep.
19. Somehow it is April and I have not worked on the hood. I pick it up and totally lose everything Cat had taught me. I fiddle with short rows until I have something I can be okay with and move on.
20. My beloved Father dies suddenly and I cannot seem to knit anything that is complicated. I have to push to finish my project for my class and can't believe I managed to design something and teach it when my heart is filled with such sorrow. *side note: yes I was cheating on my hat/scarf with my cowl design...but playing with the sugar was just too tempting)*
21. June flies by and I knit here and there but charting looks too intimidating. I start doubting myself and feel like I should just rip the thing out. I am pretty down...I cry all the time in private. I talk to Dad and he tells me that I shouldn't be sad because he is still with me. Every bill I pay for Mom, every call I have to make breaks me down. But the hat/scarf is patient. It doesn't judge me and I am thankful for that.
22. We start playing Skyrim since hubby works for their parent company and we've been wanting to play for a while...I've expounded on my gaming before so this should be no surprise. I found this game slowly bringing me back to myself. It is hard to explain. But knowing I could set out and finish a Quest gave me the courage I could do another. The battle music filled me with a desire to go forward. We all get inspired in different ways: Skyrim helped me get through the melancholy haze I was in and embrace life again. While I watched my son and DH play I began to knit again with a ferocity that surprised even me.
23. With over 20 dragons under my belt, I was feeling more like my old self but quite different. I was tired of being afraid of failing, and I just jumped into my pattern and ripped the whole thing out and started over. By the end of the weekend, I had tested the cables and they looked good. By the end of the week, I was finished with the hood and the cables were back together going down the other scarf.
25. January. After so much math that I cannot comprehend if 2+2 actually equals 4 anymore; I have three sizes to show for all my work. I still need to test them which will have to stay on the back burner for a while. But I think the math will ring true when I do.
26. February. After much work and considerable effort, my beautiful hooded scarf gets a photoshoot. I am proud that I finished it. I can feel Dad smiling in Heaven.
Happy crafting,
Ruinwen
:)
3 comments:
Oh I just love this hood! Well done that you finished it, it turned out beautifully. LOVE the color too, perfect.
You've had quite a year friend. But I can sense the determination in your words that you are not giving up and have much to do in 2013 and it will be good work, in all ways.
If you click through, you might be interested in this book review I just wrote, don't think you've seen this one yet.
I don't know what short rows are, but keep seeing that ref. at Ravelry etc, have to read that part in this book, to understand. I know what steeks are now though and I did do a simple Fair Isle for the first time so I am progressing knitwise LOL
Many hugs, G :<)
Lovely. But you're a far better one than I. That happens to be the sort of thing that makes a WIP pile for me.
:)
Just lovely!
Nothing like a dragon attack to get the blood pumping, eh? ;) Someday you'll have to thank Alduin for all that extra motivation...
This post is a great insight into the design process and how complicated it can get, and all the things in life that play into it...designing sure is WORK!
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