Creating with Confidence

It has been some time since I posted last, but be assured it has been time spent, and yes spent well, though I have no physical evidence to support this fact, therefore I have been reluctant to share since there are no pictures to offer as proof that I have continued to be creative in my absence.

While most people would call my recent activities a compilation of mistakes, or an exercise in tinking and frogging, I prefer to call it “practice”. Even if the sessions, which started out with me determined to “get it this time” but mostly ended up with me giving up, exhausted and in sheer frustration, they helped prepare me to recognize a problem and how to fix it. The few projects I posted previously all became something more than wasted time, energy and yarn, but rather, a lesson learned, valuable lessons at that, and once this became evident, suddenly the joy came back to my work.

So, with plenty of practice behind me, I feel better prepared to attempt a project. As with other lessons I have learned in the past sometimes you have to walk away for a bit, but once you return, suddenly the answer is there, nearly jumping out at you and you are amazed how you could not see it before. Everything begins to fall into place, and this is where I find myself now, more confident in my knitting and interpreting charted instructions. Still I am not as confident in my ability to create my own pattern so instead I have modified a larger piece to suit the dimensions I need, utilizing some of my favorite design work.

I have started on a lace head covering, I know....this all sounds familiar...., using the alpaca lace weight described in an earlier post. The modified pattern is one Galina featured in her book and after 12 rows I am happy to announce that so far I have managed not to make a mistake. I am not sure I know how to act not having to tink or rip every other row. Still I will be periodically "throwing out a lifeline". For those reading that are not familiar with "lifelines" I encourage you to find out how to acquire one for your work. It will indeed save you some real grief, especially on some of the more intricate lacework where finding mistakes can be difficult at best or sometimes nearly impossible.

I am also trying to finish some tea towels that I have had on the loom for some time now. I hope to have them finished by my Godmother's birthday at the end of the month. So I will stop here for now and get on with it.