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About a year ago, my step-mom bought me some Plymouth Homestead yarn that I had asked for. I had planned to knit myself another Beatrice Coat with it, but I decided that I don't need two of the same sweater, and the yarn could go to better use in a new design. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do with it.
Fortunately, after the Gardening Tee was published something easily just came to me. It's really funny how that works—when I'm trying, nothing comes, but when I'm just calm and open, design ideas flood in. I've begun a regular 3 times a week yoga practice again, and this time I'm continuing to keep knitting involved in my life as well. The results seem to be pretty positive so far. The day this new design came, many other things came to me that I've been *trying* to figure out for some time now. I'm sure the yoga is helping to keep me calm and centered, and therefore I'm not trying too hard to get anything done, things are just happening.
One of the things I seem to have figured out recently is a *style*. I had worked with Interweave a little while back, and one thing they asked me to do, was figure out what style I wanted to express… That stumped me, and left me pondering for months… (years?) about what a style is, and how I could figure out what my style is. I haven't yet put it into words, but I finally have something visual that I can use to help me understand. I've assembled a collage of some of my favorite designs—published, unpublished and yet to be created—that seems to be my style.
It's about really being honest with myself about what I like. I *can* design any shape, size, texture, and that seems to be what I've been doing. I have been using design as a way of challenging myself—a way of pushing my boundries to see what I can do. But what is it that I like? Shouldn't I design things I would like to wear and knit? Why bother designing something challenging if I wouldn't enjoy knitting it?
So, this new design is something I've been enjoying knitting. The pattern is not challenging, but rather designed to be something that can be easily understood and knit relatively mindlessly.
It's knit from the top down with raglan increases and a garter ridge texture, then divided and knit with ribs. It's coming along really quickly. I've only worked on it for 2 evenings, and the yoke and body are well on their way.
I'm planning on knitting two of these. This first one is a wool winter cardigan in Plymouth Homestead, and the second will be a cotton summer top knitted in Pakucho Organic Color Worsted. I'm using these yarns because of their eco-friendly properties. I want to encourage the use and production of earth friendly yarns, so as part of my *style*, I'm choosing to design with yarns that help the world become a better place.
Classic Elite has some great earth friendly yarns in their Verde collection, and I'll usually use CE yarns before anything else. But this time, I choose the Pakucho yarn because I need a vegan, cotton yarn that is smooth and knits up to 4 sts to the inch. It wasn't easy to find, and there are very limited options available for such a yarn. I encourage more yarn companies to create a smooth organic cotton yarn that knits to this gauge… I really was amazed at the rarity of this kind of yarn…
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