An Inspirational Pattern Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so! TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo2
So, in the saga I laid out yesterday, I mentioned watching the girl knit at the Starbucks in Charlotte, how magical and peaceful it seemed. Here is what I am just sure that she was working on:
If she wasn't knitting Lady Eleanor, I am pretty sure that I don't actually care! In my mind, she was knitting away on what I consider to be the most beautiful and inspiring piece of knitwear out there.... I bought the book Scarf Style by Interweave Press before I even had HOPE that I could learn to knit. I justified it by telling myself that it had crochet in it, too. (I think there are two crochet patterns in the whole book.... Don't mess with my self-delusion!) Everything in the book is so, so beautiful, but Lady Eleanor is special. I think this one represents to me more than just a project that I would love to knit someday.... First, it is entrelac which seems to me to be the penultimate of knitting difficulty. Second, I think I just want to BE the girl in that image. I want to be so lovely. I want to be the kind of girl who can pull off wearing such a dramatic wrap.... This shawl is a lifestyle, an idea of what I want my life to look like, to be like.
So, you see why I can't make it yet, right? It is as if it would mix the knitting matter and anti-matter and end the knitting the universe! If I master entrelac, would knitting become passe? Boring? Would I have been-there-done-that? And if I dreamed all this time about this shawl then looked stupid or fat, would I lose the will to live, to dream about ideal lives?? Can I face taking this from perfect ideal to possibly flawed reality??
Now you all think I am a little crazy, right? Here I am, exposing my deepest, darkest knitting neuroses to the light, showing my furry underbelly. (Metaphorically. I swear, my underbelly is actually not furry.) Be kind to me, will you??
In less dramatic knitting news, here are the promised pictures of WIPs. This is the Aeolian, represented in a picture that shows no beads, but darned if that isn't almost the actual color of the yarn.... I never thought it would get to this point, but I am in a weird place with this shawl. I know it is going to be so very lovely, and I LOVE the yarn, but the pattern has gotten a little tedious here on the 11th repeat. I am trying to muscle my way through.... No matter how long the rows are, there are after all only 12 repeats of this pattern to complete. I think I can, I think I can....
And here is the beginning of the Passiflora, take two. The first time I somehow misread the instructions and omitted all the Sand Stitch from the beginning of the knitting.... It looked mighty funky, so FROG. I am really enjoying working on this in contrast to the much more complicated, attention hogging lace knitting on the shawl. It gives me a little mindless, meditative time when lace is too much. And it goes so fast! After I took this picture yesterday afternoon, I doubled it in size and then moved back to Aeolian! I just hope wearing a sweater made out of an aran weight wool blend does not cause me to actually melt in my car one day this summer.....
7 comments:
Entrelac is gorgeous. I tried it once, but it ended up just being a swatch because at that I'm, I didn't really like the process. A shawl pattern came out recently--entrelac and lace, and it's got my name (Dianna) so I think I'll HAVE to knit that one!
I love this shawl. It is a really lovely design and I can see the attraction. I hope you achieve it.
Oh, I think you should knit it. I don't think your knitting world will come to an end if you do. It is a lovely pattern.
Lady Eleanor is in my Ravelry queue. I've made an entrelac bag before and it's really fun. Even my husband thinks it's cool, and he thinks very little about knitting is cool.
Knit it!
Love that pattern. I did a small entrelac piece on a whim when I first started knitting and found it so much fun. If anything, I think learning it might open some new knitting doors for you! :)
I like your analogy of matter/anti-matter converging here...for me, I think colorwork is my penultimate technique. Once I make a really intricate Fair Isle sweater, *poof*, it's all over.
I blogged about the Lady Eleanor today as a matter of fact. I think its so gorgeous now if I could only get down learning Entrelac I would be ok lol.
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