I am a lace junkie. I love knitting lace, I love the feel of it as I knit, and I love the rhythm of the actual knitting. No matter how complex the pattern, I feel that this is a zen process in which I can just relax and knit. If the pattern has a nice memorizable repeat then I can really just knit mindlessly despite the complexity. The process of blocking, while not the most pleasant of tasks, is really the climax of the whole process. It is amazing how the blocking brings the whole piece to life. That's great! Except... The problem is, I really have no excuse or place to wear nice lace shawls. So I have a box of shawls all sealed up in Ziploc bags to prevent the moths from getting to them. It is really quite sad when I think about it. Pretty much every shawl is different; in color and design. I think I have an entire rainbow in that box. What is going to make things even worse is that I have started to design patterns recently. So this means I can bust down some of the stash by making and remaking the same pattern until I have it as perfect as I can get it. Now I am starting to get repeats in my box, some of those repeats also have imperfections. I'm not saying they have errors in them because really I just changed the pattern mid-stride and the first incarnation didn't get the change. Compared to the final pattern, they are different and not quite as polished.
I have decided that I love designing patterns; or at least coming up with the idea, sketching it out, and beginning to knit the first one. I also realized that I dislike knitting something again, and again, and again just to get it right. Good thing I discover most errors early on and can fix them on the go rather then having to frog an entire project or just live with the error.My first attempt at "designing" was actually taking one pattern that I loved the center panel from (Garden of Alla) and combining it with another pattern where I loved the edging (Haruni). After posting pictures of the finished lace on Ravelry, I had more then a few comments asking how I had done it. So I had to deconstruct what I had done on the fly and post that for everyone who was interested. Nothing special, but I was happy I had received a few comments from people who liked it enough to want to have one of their own.
So now I am starting to have fun with design and just posted my first pattern for sale on Ravelry. I can't be more excited about this. Seeing my pattern up and having people buy it is just the icing on the cake. I can't wait to get the next pattern up and available. Go check out the Apple Leaf Shawl on Ravelry and if you like it let me know.