Saturday, November 06, 2010

Designing is a Fine Addiction

First, we had a lovely day yesterday. Oscar's family came down to Ann Arbor to meet us at a restaurant. The only reason they drove down from Lansing is to save me the physical wear and tear of a 90-minute car ride. I am so lucky in my in-laws! I really miss seeing them, but the physical cost of the journey is high, and I hadn't seen them for too long. With my dad being ill, I have been saving my journeying to see my folks, and even then have only been able to go a few times this year. It meant so much that Liz, Fred, Lynnie and Brian made the drive. I feel very loved.

Second: Lynnie is a designer and artist, and has been my mentor into the world of knitting. I love her very much, and love our discussions of the entire subject of design. We are very different in method, I often gain inspiration from reading antique patterns, and stitch pattern dictionaries, For me, the twist I give the pattern often comes in the form of the shaping and construction of the finished object. I also enjoy bringing little-known stitch patterns back out in a modern pattern. I tend to sketch out ideas both with imagery and with text before beginning, and take notes as I progress. Lynnie most often 'draws with her needles', and only later writes down pattern. After talking with her yesterday I decided to sit down with a little 'graph paper' (in reality, a table made on a Word doc to simulate a chart) and see what lace pattern I could devise by doodling rather than starting with an existing stitch pattern.
It was so FUN! This (photo above) may end up a pattern, but my fingers and mind are already itching to see what else I can come up with, perhaps to simulate ginko leaves, or the flowers of Monkshood. A way for my garden to live again.
I am very aware that someone else may have designed a similar lace stitch, but the process of creating it was all mine, and was SO enjoyable. Thanks Lynnie, for the reminder of how much fun drawing from my interior artist can be.

3 comments:

ColorJoy LynnH said...

Love this post. My current project was the first where I drew out a graph before casting on. I have only once designed starting w/ a chart I found.

Yet we both have so much in common! We are definitely good for each other.

Big Hugs. Was truly great to see you again.

ColorJoy LynnH said...

Whoops... guess I did a chart for my self-portrait, too. It was not a published design, guess that's what I was thinking of when I wrote the 1st comment.

cedarstrings said...

What a lovely entry; I enjoy the craft connection between Otterwise and ColorJoythe "sisters-in-love" blogs and design work; and now Diana will send me to bed dreaming of a certain ginko tree I used to know.