Monday, July 30, 2007

Can’t see the forest for the…

I apparently cannot count and chew gum at the same time.

Saturday, a friend and I got together for lunch and a bit of a knit-in.  We had a great time - one of those things where you just relax and laugh and the next thing you know, it’s time to go home and you have no idea where the afternoon went.  She had brought along a lovely cotton crochet coaster project to work on (and you should see how incredibly neat and even her crocheting is!).  I brought some of the yarn remnants from the entrelac shawl and my size 5 bamboos to start a pair of Dulaan socks.

Things went fine through the ribbing but once I attempted to add the leaf motif, all hell broke loose. - quietly, of course :) I couldn’t keep track of increases or decreases to save my life.  Whilst conversating, my fingers were evidently off doing their own thing, boogying to their own beat.  It seemed like I had to frog half a round for every round and a half I knit.

Yesterday, I got sidetracked, noticing that over at Knitting Fool there were three patterns calling themselves “Tree of Life”.  None of them had illustrations, so I decided to see what they looked like and hauled out the yarn and needles :)





This resembles a small, stylized evergreen (at least to me) and is a simple knit/purl pattern.  It’s done over 25 stitches and (including the border patterning) and is very easy to work.  It might be easier still with a chart and I think I would do that - create a chart - if I were going to use this pattern/motif in something I was making.





This looks more like a teepee than a tree but that’s just me, I’m sure :) It is referred to as a cable pattern and I suppose technically it may be but the pattern is really created with a series of slipped and twisted stitches.  Actually I think this is kind of interesting and I love the way the slipped stitches travel without pulling or puckering the fabric.  This design is fine but it’s the technique that really intrigues me here…

And finally, there was this…

It’s the same concept as the first pattern, but on a considerably larger scale, and incorporates a half-diamond border and a moss stitch edging.  This motif (and the first one, to a lesser extent) have a serious Native American feel to them and it would be interesting to look for other motifs or stitch patterns that would enhance that feel.

I know there are a lot of tree motifs out there and I’m seriously thinking I might spend some times finding and acquiring them - in fact the thought makes me a little giddy!  These three are all relatively simple but I know there are some complex, cabled trees out there as well as embossed types.  Wouldn’t it be cool to make an afghan or a throw with nothing but tree patterns?  Not a project for today or tomorrow, perhaps, but something to consider for the future. 

I’m getting myself into something here - I can feel it :)

No trackbacks yet.

1. I think an afghan with all tree motifs would be fantastic. The thought of hunting for the patterns sounds exciting. You come up with the most intriguing project ideas. I love the way your creativity flows.

   Posted by Opal  on  07/30  at  04:28 PM
   Location : Honolulu, HI



2. what a cool idea!  cant waitt to see what you cook up!

   Posted by nat  on  07/30  at  04:46 PM
   Location : happy as a clam but busy busy busy



3. Opal - I think so too - in panels of various colors.  But I want to find some other tree patterns first and see what I wind up with!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/30  at  05:13 PM
   Location : Watching the gerbils...



4. Nat - It’s anyone’s guess right now :) But it promises to be an interesting chase!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/30  at  05:15 PM
   Location : Watching the gerbils...



5. Nice sock and swatches. I love it when I can see a pic of the pattern. By the way, I nominated you as a Rockin’ Girl Blogger! Rock on!

   Posted by Lisa  on  07/30  at  05:38 PM
   Location :



6. Lisa - That’s very sweet of you :) Rockin’?  I’ll do my best :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/30  at  06:06 PM
   Location : Watching the gerbils...



7. VERY cute sock!!

   I like the last tree motif; it looks most like a tree, imho. :)

   Posted by Ev  on  07/30  at  09:08 PM
   Location : Kelowna, BC



8. Ev - I liked the last motif best too - even though it took a lot longer than the others to make.  As you say, it looks more like a tree.  I like the side half-diamonds too :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  07/30  at  11:21 PM
   Location : Watching the gerbils...

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.