It's been almost a week since have I posted. Where does the time go? My Mom hasn't been feeling well and I've been doing the ER, doctor's office, visiting nurse thing. She's doing better and here I am.
I want to talk about that fabulous designer Jane Slicer-Smith. The picture is of her scarf/wrap/shawl called Digital. I first thought it meant digital like in technology, but it means digital like fingers. See all of the digits around the scarf? I knitted this project during our month in Sunset Beach, NC. I always like to have a special project to take to Sunset Beach. Something I can start and finish in a month so I have a knitting memory of each January in Sunset Beach. It was in Sunset Beach this year that I decided to do a knitting blog and bought Blogging for Dummies. I learned I wasn't smart enough for Blogging for Dummies.
When you look at this amazing design, what do you see? Fabulous colors? Interesting stitch patterns? Intriguing design? I once saw that now what I see is thousands of yarn ends to hide? I have mentioned that finishing isn't my favorite part of the knitting process. Well, hiding ends is my least favorite part of the finishing process.
I can't tell you how much fun this was to knit. When I saw it I had to have it. Color! Color! Color! Plus different stitches! I think Jane designed this for me. You can get the kit at her website and see all of her incredible other designs. I think I have three sweater kits in the TBFL (to be finished later) tub. (Since I've started Knitting: A Love Story, I am looking more seriously at pulling those out.) Jane's amazing book "Swing, Swagger, Drape" is filled with Janesque designs. It is one of my favorite books right up there with Sally Melville's "The Color Experience" and Sandra McIver's "Knit, Swirl." (I am just about ready to steam my Knit, Swirl).
I learned from this wonderful project that there is a price to pay for a project of many colors. That price is hiding ends. It took me hours to hide the ends but the juice was definitely worth the squeeze. (I use a crochet hook to hide ends. It is much easier that a needle.) You know, this blog is teaching me to appreciate finishing as part of the knitting process rather than something to be dreaded. Who would have thought?