coming back around

ages and ages ago,

i was very excited about a new design

that i had planned for galler yarn’s ‘asana bulky’.

it’s thick and thin. it has tone upon tone. the personality nearly oozes from the fibers of it.

asana sqi jumped into the planning

for a hugely cozy large cabled collar

topping off a cardi that felt like wearing a squishy hug around.

i was only weeks away from being ready to release the pattern when

a fellow designer released nearly the same thing.

no, she had not seen mine,

and no, we had not talked and inadvertently copied each other.

they were predicting a cold, cold winter and i think we both set our sights

in the same direction.

that happens.

so the knitting was frogged and i began again.

trying to listen to what else the yarn wanted to be.

the thing is, i still wanted it to be

the big collared cardi with extra wide cables.

i couldn’t hear other options as they dropped off my needles and into the swatches

because i didn’t want to hear new options.

i think from a creative point of view,

i sort of dug my heels in

and pouted.

it’s been many, many months since then.

more cold weather is predicted for this winter

and i took the asana out of the bag to have a looksee.

i love this yarn. it’s so interesting and different.

the color variations give the stitches such depth.

there is now enough distance

between my head and the original idea

to hear what this yarn wants to be. finally.

of course, i’d like to tell you that i am not affected

by these things.

that i am never a moody creative,

that logic rules my process at all times so i always get done

what i intend to do in the time i plan to do it in

but, it’s not truehttps://www.talithakuomi.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=8389&action=edit

i imagine that you wouldn’t believe that of me anyway.

at this point, you know me all too well.na sq

so, here’s to a new pattern

rising up from its old abandoned beginnings.

if all goes well this time,

it should be keeping some of us warm

by the time we hit the deep chill of winter this year.

 ‘abandoned’ taken from 54:7 of isaiah.

the opposite of being undecided

today knitcircus released their winter 2011 issue.

sold as part of that collection is my ‘duplicity’.

inspired by the stark branches of winter as

they set against the cool midday sky,

i wanted it to be a clutch

but it balked

and became a reversible buttoned cowl instead.

it’s double knit so that there are no strands to be carried across

the long stretches of color.

this also allows the mc and cc

 to swap places on opposite sides.

i was thrilled for the opportunity

to try classic elite yarn’s

eco-friendly yarn

‘woodland’.

it’s softness

was a surprise

since it’s partly made

of nettles, but soft and fairly silky it is.

the wool takes dye differently

than the nettle fibers do,

so the yarn has a way of looking solid & heathery at the very same time

…already my mind is racing to work out the details

of the next project i will knit in this fiber

whose nettles belie it’s smoothness.

now, there’s some duplicity for you.

‘duplicity’ taken from 11:3 in proverbs.