How to use this Page

8 x 8 inches

This is what I'm working on right now. I thought it might be fun to post a work in progress, so you can see how these things develop.

I know its light and a little difficult to see, I apologize. But this is exactly how it looks on my board (well, except for the bad scan splice down the middle).

This is going to be a red and white Scandinavian snowflake design (yes, I'm thinking Christmas already). I essentially knit the design with my pencil, drawing it out, stitch by stitch.

Then I used a colored pencil (in this case a Polychromo red) to lightly indicate the red pattern stitches. I came back in with a light grey to go over the rest of the stitches (which will be off-white).

I then lightly erase the graphite pencil lines underneath. The colored pencil holds up better to erasing, and holds the pattern just enough, while the graphite goes away.

Notice I keep saying "lightly". That's the key. Too much color too early will ruin it, and too heavy erasing will take it all off. I need to be able to see the pattern, but not have it be outlined like a coloring book.

Here's a detail. This is about the size the stitches are in real life.


So now I get to start painting! I decided to do this in watercolor. I'll probably do some colored pencil on it as well, but I will at least establish the color pattern and maybe shadows with paint first. Stay tuned.




I guess I need to find some Christmas music to listen to. The other night I watched "The Wall" (Pink Floyd) which I hadn't seen since it first came out (although I've listened to the album many many times). Its still stuck in my head, and doesn't really go with happy Christmas knitting designs.

You know how certain songs can conjure up a time of your life in almost a PTSD sort of way - you flash back in an almost visceral way to the way you felt when you heard them?

For example, the other day I downloaded "I Confess" by the English Beat, and when I listened to it I was at a party my senior year at Duke, dancing with a bunch of friends at 2am.

Well, last night the_webmeister and I went to see Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) perform at the Boston Garden. First off, let me say that it was one of the best concerts I've seen in a very long time - everything an arena concert should be. Fantastic music, both old and new, amazing visuals and all sorts of special effects.

I last saw Pink Floyd my senior year of high school during The Wall tour, and what's wonderful to see is that Roger Waters has lost none of his passion for performing. Unlike some of the older rockers I've seen perform, who seem to be simply going through the motions to support the lifestyle to which they and their ex-wives have become accustomed, Roger Waters appeared to truly enjoy himself onstage - and he is still writing politically and emotionally incisive songs. In the first set he played some new songs along with old (and I mean REALLY old, going back as far as "A Saucerful of Secrets" - which I still have on a cassette tape somewhere). In the second set he played the ENTIRE Dark Side of the Moon, which is one of my favorite albums of all time, and is actually the fifth best selling album of all time, for good reason.

Fireworks, lasers, an enormous floating pig with anti-Bush slogans - what more could a girl ask for?

But back to the point I was making at the beginning - about how music can transport you to a time and place and emotion. I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd in high school, and when they played "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" during the first set, I found myself in with tears streaming down my face, because all of a sudden I was a misfit fifteen year-old again, self-medicating (as I refer to it now, because nowadays I probably would have been put on anti-depressants instead) alone in my room at night, wondering if I was crazy and if I'd always feel as bad.

"Comfortably Numb" had a similar effect, during the encore.

What songs bring YOU to a specific time, place or emotion?