I am taking a class--something I rarely do. Most classes in my interests of quilting and knitting are about making a certain pattern or project, and I would rather spend the cost of the class on fabric or yarn. This class, however, is about how to create a knitting pattern, with the object being a shawl, my favorite thing to knit. Now, having 250+ shawl patterns already queued on Ravelry, it isn't like I am lacking in project ideas, and I don't really have an interest at this point of pursuing pattern design as a business venture. I have, however, reached a point in my knitting where I would like to be able to modify a pattern I mostly like, or change an element to make it more unique to me. So, for the first time in a very long time, I have homework to do.
Technically, I have homework with a personal Bible study I am doing, but I don't see it the same way. There isn't really a deadline, and if there is a question I don't want to spend time on, I just skip it. My class homework comes with a different level of expectation. First of all, this is a group project. By group, I mean the shop owner, myself, and one other woman--about all the "group" I can handle. ;-) We have a specific assignment and a deadline. Granted, the deadline isn't hard and fast, but if we are going to make the most of these four weeks, then we need to keep up as best we can.
Here are the beginnings:
We are making the shawl pattern on the far right--the heart-shaped shawl.
First we need to do some swatching, or make a sample, to try out a lace pattern and get the hang of how the shaping works. The stitches will show up best in a light colored yarn, so I will be using this cream colored yarn I had in my stash.
I picked out a lace pattern from a perpetual calendar on knitting stitches I had, printed out a list of knitting chart symbols, and put some graph paper in a notebook. The yarn is ready, and now I need to draw out a chart of the pattern, and cast on. We are off and running!
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