…so I scratched it!
What’s Itching me?
Well, it’s my ideas that are causing the itch. It is not uncommon for me to create a stitch pattern and later on discover a multitude of uses for it. In fact, there have been plenty of occasions where I’ve designed a hat, for example, and then get that tremendous itch to explore other design possibilities. I would end up saying things like, “I’m sure I can make a sweater out of this hat!” and this is how I will end up making a shawl or cardi using either the same stitch pattern or design formation.
The Itch in Question
What was itching me in this case, was my original Friday Street Shawl stitch pattern (see above pic). Unlike normal slip stitch patterns, this one is carried over a number of rows which make the slipped stitch elongated. Lots of fun in a shawl or flat piece of work… so, my idea was to try the same thing on a top-down raglan sweater!
I had 6 skeins of Plucky Knitter Primo Sport (3 x ‘Bleu’ & 3 x ‘Barn Door’). Even after swatching, it was not easy to tell if I would have enough yarn to do a full length open cardi with a belt. It was much of a case of making it up as I went along (and I’m no stranger to that, I can tell you!). At least I was working a top-down construction – but with the slip stitch formation along with the raglan increases, it was to be a bit of a “Mental Exercise” to put it mildly! Luckily, I had predicted that the stitch timings would be off past the armholes, so I factored-in a one-stitch false side seam…. phew!
There, That’s Better Now!
The trouble with these bouts of creative itchings is that they are a huge distraction. I can think of nothing else while these things are playing on my mind. They take me away from my more pressing jobs and responsibilities and I can’t settle down until I’ve scratched it! Lately, there’s been an ever-lasting build up of design ideas, so to stop me going wild with creative itchy fever, I’ve started making a new queue in my Ravelry projects gallery. These are design ideas that will (at some point) become a real live project, but they have to wait in an orderly line.
There are lots of other design ideas waiting to join this queue, but they need a longer ‘brewing’ process before I will accept them. By queuing incumbent projects like this, I won’t need to worry about forgetting the design idea, because it will have already been drawn and the yarn will have been chosen. So it will just be a question of swatching and casting on.
Panic over!
JimiKnits... and other bits. 