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…