pattern writing is not something

that i would do alone

by any means.

i design,

but there are

oh so many people involved

and my ideas would surely be lost,

in the swirl of the details,

without all the help.

as i wrote ‘asa‘ out,

the line-up went something like this:

1st there was wallace & gromit in ‘a close shave’

inspiring the super bulky yarn & thick stripes.

next my cousin j, who

held the corners of my sketch flat

against the warm ocean breezes of vacation

while i snapped quick photos at dusk for the official proposal

and a larger

troupe of cousins

were hugely responsible

for entertaining me with their rowdy laughter

while i knit, and reknit,  until the swatch was ‘just right’.

fourthly, it took spud and chloe supplying

all the necessary super bulky to knit the final sweater.

(they’ve just added new colors to all 3 of their yarns.

check them out here & here & here.

gorgeous, no?)

fifthly, it took the camaraderie of m

sitting on the livingroom floor very late into the night,

as we scribbled out rectangles & math formulas (& laughed at our ‘skills’)

to accurately determine just how many yards each different size sweater required.

then, of course, my faithful friends at taunton s’n’b

who helped me make a final choice of buttons when i teetered,

on the edge of resorting to ‘eenie, meeni, miney moe’, in the depths of indecision.

and up 6th is a for the super fast, super helpful test-knitting

(in bright pink and yellow, no less.  how girly fun!)

while over the oceans from me, j was creating the schematic.

brandy fortune was up next taking the photos

that produced the final, adorable, pictures.

along with the rest of the gals

for their tireless efforts

to put out the consistent, high quality

on-line magazine that petite purls always is.

then, after all these fingers in the pie,

the pattern finally sees the ‘light of day’.

and if those who came in contact with it to this point

were willing to be honest about any weaknesses in my original idea

and to enhance the strengths of the pattern as it came together,

then there is satisfaction at the end of the process for me.

in the case of ‘asa’

there was also an afternoon visit

to my favorite lys where i loaded up

on new yarns that fueled fresh ideas to start the process all over again…

‘laughter’ taken from 8:21 in job.