just got back from the thursday night knit club at the library, and since i was there, i took a few minutes to stock up on books. i usually feel lucky to find 3 or 4 that i’m interested in, but this evening i hit the motherlode and came home with a bag full of goodies
i’m excited—there is plenty here to last through the long car ride to new england next week, and then some. and i finally found the alchemist on audiobook—something i’ve had on my list for a long while but didn’t see on other trips. i know i should use interlibrary loan to request specific books, but somehow, the process confuses me and i always give up on it. it’s kind of fun to fly by the seat of my pants—many times i have been faced with shelves of nothing familiarly “good”, and so tried something i might not have read otherwise, that i ended up enjoying.
oh, and i did knitting there too. i brought a small thing that i need badly to finish for myself (is that grammatically correct?).
my cashmere mitt. it’s so easy to make lots of progress on something small and proven. i need that.
because. well, i know i said i would wait and reserve judgement for later, compare notes on one needle size versus another, but in the end i said goodbye to all this
i just couldn’t live with the edging that bulged like this along the width of the shawl. it really bugged me. so i banished it.
it’s not a disaster.
i always feel a LOT better when i rip out something that doesn’t satisfy me; it is literally uplifting for me. i don’t like looking at something that is just not quite right if i know i can fix it. it nags at me. and it was either rip out, or live with it for at least a couple more weeks.
i know a little buckling will block out, but i also know that more than a little doesn’t block out well enough for me. and since this type of garment will be around for years, i’d like it to be something i will gaze on with pride—or at least satisfaction.
it took all of 2 minutes to rip out 2 or 3 evening’s work, but it felt great. ahhhh—nothing like a clean slate. now i’m not getting rid of that edging, because i do like it very much. in fact, let me tell you all the things i DO like about it, because there are many (nighttime lamplit pictures are the worst, but it just so happens that i actually get an accurate record of the yarn color here, as well as a good view of the opaque/solid changes in the piece, so forgive me).
well, first of all there are all those points—they’re just fab. i also love the progression of scale between the stitch patterns in the shawl from small to large to medium—it definitely has the drama i was hoping for. and the cohesion between patterns is also pleasing to me—it’s a wonderful study of diamond and triangle shapes of all sizes, both in the positive and the negative spaces.
working with an overabundance of similar shapes is something i learned from looking at kaffe fasset’s work in color, and my appreciation for how stitch patterns can interact with each other in a piece, is constantly expanding. i have such respect for a beautiful stitch pattern, and finding ways to make patterns speak to each other is a simply a delight.
when i began thinking about this piece, i had a picture in my mind of a simpler stole in a single stitch pattern, but then as i thought about it more, i wanted to pay a much bigger homage to the starlight lace pattern (the main body stitch). the concept evolved into sweeping stole with ends that have a (hopefully) dramatic light/dark contrast so that when it is lifted against the light, a striking picture would show itself.
and this, to my own amazement, i think i have accomplished. i LOVE the mix of solid and sheer parts—it seems balanced and well-placed, and really, just what i was hoping for. i am so excited about this i can hardly sit still to knit the rest of the shawl.
now, in the bright light of day (why yes, that IS sunshine you see there), my task is to get back to the step-by-step work, and reknit the edge so that i can move on to work the whole other half of the shawl.
this is a piece from which i learned a lot more than i thought i would. i pushed the origianl idea past its initial concept to something far more visually complex (though not more difficult to execute). and i am taking the design further toward my ideal than i might have been able to before, and in a purposeful way, that i actually planned. working for years from sheer instinct, and seeing what works and what doesn’t, is finally paying off. i feel like i am maturing in some way that is very freeing. i know that another project in my probably not-too-distant future will make me touch down again, but for now, my exitement is pretty high, and i want to stay awake for a week designing new stuff.
in the meantime, back at the ranch, look what came in the mail yesterday
i haven’t even had a chance to look at it (much). well, ok, i did flip through real quick-like. but didn’t see much i was interested in other than the photography. i’m sure a closer inspection will give me something to chew on for a bit.
oh, and ooh-ooh!—deb over at Fearless Fibers has just released a new laceweight merino yarn and debuted new colorways along with it (i know, it’s SO unfair of her!), some of which she is also offering in her sock yarn collection. so GO.
19 thoughts on “now you see it—now you don’t”
Anne,I’m up way to late, but sometimes sleep either evades me or I evade it. Here’s hoping this comment makes sense: I agree with you 100%-the bulging edge would’ve always nagged at me too! I would’ve opted to rip it out as well. Good choice. Happy knitting on the other half, keep up that wonderful high excitement! I think the starlight shawl is a definite success, and a study in beauty!
Love to see the progress of your design. And glad you ripped it cuz when it doesn’t look and doesn’t feel right, that is just what you have to do.
I think that is what designing entails too: being able to rip. It’s like having the power to create and bring back to nothing again, only to create more powerfully.
Yep – I can totally see why redoing that edging would make you happy. 🙂 Sometimes I think the hardest communication is between what you see in your mind’s eye and what you can actually get your brain to understand and produce – and sometimes there is a little disconnect until everything gets on the same page.
The new Rowan is on my wish list! There are some very fun patterns in it.
Enjoy your trip to SPA!!
I think the redone edging will suit better. Why is it that when I see your shawls in progress I can’t help but think BEADS!!!
I’m so looking forward to Spa!!!
Good move anne on the bulge issue… I wish I could rip out my OWN bulges in 2 minutes! Well, off to pedalaway those bulges – I think it will take me more than 2 minutes though. Let me know how you like the Alchemist; I’ve got that on my “to be read” shelf….
As you know, I’m watching your progress on the beautiful “Starlight” very closely. A question re the ripped edging: What is causing the line on the third sawtooth from the left? Is it woven-in ends? Or (shh) an error that would have made it necessary to rip anyway? I love that sawtooth edging, but wouldn’t have been able to live with the bulge, either.
I always feel better after I rip back, too. It’s trying to decide to do it — usually when I KNOW, deep down, that I must do it — that’s hard. But I appreciate your description of the fun way that a design can evolve and change into something different and better than the original.
Anne,
My sister gave me The Alchemist as a gift to help me get through a difficult time. She recommends reading a little of it each day to remind myself of its lessons. It truely is a wonderful book.
🙂
Many thanks for the fabulous prize I won from you:) The yarn arrived today and is beautiful and I look forward to trying out the pattern once my latest shawls are finished:)
thanks again
amber in scotland
Every time I see pictures with your daily calendar, it reminds me that I should drag mine out more and put it to use. I’ve had it for a year or two now and only used it on one project.
Oh I am sorry that you had to rip it back out. I am the same way about my knitting. I just can’t leave something that I know will eat at me later.
I hope you’re bringing that wrap to SPA so I can take a look at it!
You should be proud of the starlight shawl. It looks great and I think you did right to re-do the last bit. I like to rip right onto my ball winder. Just anchor the piece, and turn the handle! Brrrlllpt!
I’m thinking of getting an I-pod and I’m looking forward to being able to have something good to listen to while I knit. I’ve read the Alchemist and I think it would make a great book to knit to.
bravo for the rip out of the off stitches. It is much too beautiful to have a part that you didn’t like.
The Alchemist is one of my all time favorite books.
Much as I hate ripping, there is something even more satisfying than getting it right the first time, when you abandon something that isn’t quite working, tinker, and then get something you really love.
I like your choice of audiobooks. I’m still browsing my on-line options at my county libraries, but the Alchemist is certainly a fine choice. I hope I can get it sooner or later.
Several knit blogs and communities have said Rowan 41 is a good one.
They always look so dippy to me. Apparently, I’m never dressed appropriately when I find myself wandering through a field of daisies. Stupid me, wearing jeans to ward off ticks. And I’ve never found myself in a rose trellis that doubles as a romantic garden swing, but if I do, you can bet I’ll look more like a 5-year-old and less like an over-sedated psych ward patient.
I have trouble separating the projects from the pictures and thinking I actually exist in a world where these garments would be acceptable. Maybe once I get over that hump I can expand my designing capabilities.
too bad it had to be ripped, but in the end it will be all for the better…..
had a good time Thursday! My birthday is this coming Thursday and I got this cherry tree hill yarn as an early birthday present over the weekend.
I’m getting myself signed up for knitting lessons as my present to myself.
I don’t feel sad that you had to rip. If it wasn’t right, you have to rip it, otherwise it nags at you. And you’re happier with the design. I love how the STarlight is turning out. Thanks for the link to Fearless Fibers. I might indulge in yet more sock yarn next payday. She has some beautiful sock yarns.
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