I think I am having the most fun knitting I've had in ages. Fearless knitting is phenomenal! I love every second. I love searching for fearless patterns and I love knitting fearlessly. I'll admit, it is hard and time consuming. That's why I haven't been writing at Knitting: A Love Story as much as I used to. It's not that I don't love writing, it's that right now I love knitting fearlessly more. In March, I found an on sale basket of sock yarn at Ann's By Design and one of the balls didn't just speak to me, it sang to me. It had all of the colors I love; red, purple, green and black. As soon as I touched it, this picture popped into my head.
I've had Optical Delusion for quite a while. So long in fact, it has gone through a couple of updates. I never found the perfect yarn until that fateful day in March at Ann's By Design when I saw this.
Isn't that perfect!?!? I decided to start Optical Delusion while we were at the condo in April. I thought it would be the perfect time to be fearless. Before I go any farther, let me show you the pattern.
There was beautiful background information about the scarf that got me in the mood to set out on this new adventure. I love patterns where the designer describes the thought process that went into the design of the pattern, tips on making the pattern easier and whatever else they want to tell us. For me, it is like going to an author interview where they talk about their writing process, tell something about the characters and the story behind the story. I enjoying hearing from both the designer and the author equally. Kim McBrien Evans told her story, said cast-on 25 then said refer to Chart A. There are 6 charts Fire Chart 1, Fire Chart 2A, Fire Chart 2B, Fire Chart 3A, Fire Chart 3B and Fire Chart 4. After I realized there were no words to work from only charts, I said, "SHAZAM! This is really fearless knitting." I redid Fire Chart 1 several times until I got it, then I was on my way (or so I thought.) I had to find a way to determine what row I was on. When I got to Fire Chart 3A and Fire Chart 3B, I had to repeat them 11 to 13 times, so I had to find a way to know exactly how many times I had worked each row in each chart. Oh, by the way, the front and back look exactly alike. I did find myself moving along.
I usually use sticky notes to tell me where I am in a pattern but humidity in North Carolina made the sticky note less than reliable. Basically, Optical Delusion is done in many, many, many short row flame patterns. I learned very quickly, you do not stop in the middle of a flame. Always complete a flame before you stop. I also learned very quickly that wine and Optical Delusion are not a good combination. I also determined very soon into the knitting, this is not travel/car knitting for obvious reasons. When I got to Fire Chart 3A and 3B, I had an ingenious idea. I found a set of multicolored pens. I used a different color pen for each completed Fire Chart 3A and 3B! I not only knew exactly where I was in the chart, I knew exactly how many times I had completed the chart! It was all there in living color. Color Coding was my solution and it worked like a charm. Let me show you the story that was Optical Delusion.
I had to take a picture of Madonna (my hot mama steamer) because she is a little jealous that Lydia gets all of the attention. After all it is Madonna who makes all of my treasures go from craft to art.
Lydia does show off Madonna's and my work to the fullest. I love this scarf so much, I have decided it is mine for ever. I have a green top exactly this color, a purple top, a red top and a black top. It was meant to be. Mosaic Mania and Optical Delusion tell me my year of fearless knitting may go on for more than a year. I LOVE IT! I hope you love it, too. I must admit I have a very simple, mindless piece of knitting that I use to decompress when I need to or when I want a glass of wine. I think it is a must to those who are seriously considering Fearless Knitting. I just have one last picture of Optical Delusion to share.
Thursday was Tess's second birthday. I thought there wouldn't be a better birthday picture than Tess wearing Optical Delusion. I was right.
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