Knitting With Color
While late winter melts (melds) into spring, make time for breezy colors!
Our silver Collie, Sky, inspired the matching Icelandic sweater Rob wears. This one is knit from 4 ply knitting yarn. **Collie fans can save undercoat from brushing their dogs and separate it into colors like black, white, and grey or various tans. Next, processing and spinning collie yarn is possible! This spun soft furry undercoat shed from collies (or other long coated breeds) can be used for knitting creations.
Along with Aran sweater experiments, I added intarsia (color) knitting, stitched on circular needles for a seamless effect. Absorbing techniques from special books, I learned to weave in every stitch on the color patterned areas as ancient knitters had done. Weaving in while knitting creates a continuous fiber without loose loops of carried yarn on the wrong side of the work to catch in fingers or tear easily with washing or wearing. "Weaving in" makes the chest and upper back area of an Icelandic design extra thick for extra warmth.
Patterned charts or graphs in books or online can be cut and pasted (designed on paper or computer) to fit into a certain multiple of (total) stitches in your work and grafted into your chosen sweater or hat template. Sacred geometry effects appear as if by magic! I see the wonders of precise mathematics at work increasing needed left brain activity. You can now design your own concept of patterns and colors.
Mildred, "You visualize the finished effect as a colored mental picture, and put math into action!"
I chuckled back to my school days, most mathematical concepts are beyond my grasp! Knitting helps.
Vision to Achievement: Wholeness
* Paraphrasing Margie Kivel, a quilt begins with a vision. Piecing together and finishing a quilt develop a wholeness of creation.
Piecing together a quilt into a unified whole reminds me of the "sewing up" in knitting. Scattered pieces of fronts, backs, sleeves and more await completion. A wearable painting in its final brushstrokes is being born. I was surprised to find some of my knitting friends actually hired other knitters to sew up their creations! I must admit, I was daunted by the sewing task. However, gradually I learned to weave seams to be "invisible" and lay flat for comfortable wear with a slight stretch in the seam for flexible durability.
Thought (Yin) leads to creative action (Yang). Designing a mandala is another creative art. Playing with watercolors on wet paper and "seeing" what appears increases the wonder and magic of tone and line. All these and more are learning exercises plus playful enjoyment.
Our Lion Cub wears a cap knit with sport yarn. The smaller needles and finer yarn is more of a challenge. This fun project, a child's cap, gives pride of accomplishment and is perfect for me to wear today, many years later!
As I walked into my creative room yesterday (jumbled notes and piles of stuff), a scrap of paper fell to the floor. I picked it up. Torn from last year's calendar, the anonymous message is a perfect fit:
"Your Imagination is Your Preview to Life's Coming Attractions."
Related Posts: A Stitch in Time and Creative Love (Feb 2012), Out of Box Experience (Who are the Sunnybank Collies? Aug 2011)
* Shine the Light, More From Margie Kivel (Jan 2011).
* www.flintspiritual.com/Lessons/About_Rev._Margie_Kivel.html Rev. Margie Kivel is a noted author, poet, mystic, ordained Spiritualist Minister, and artist. Rev. Rick Root's monthly free newsletter from Flint (Michigan USA) Spiritualist Church. Margie Kivel is a regular contributor.
** Spinning A Good Tail (Using a Drop Spindle to Make Dog Hair into Yarn) article by Anne Lively, Gloaming Wood Collies
James Norbury, Traditional Knitting Patterns, including lace and more from Scandinavia, British Isles, France, Italy and other European countries. The Family Knitting Book patterns for all ages.
Barbara G. Walker, Traditional Knitting Patterns, several volumes.
Wendy D. Johnson, Wendy Knits Lace techniques and trends.
Blog: http://wendyknits.net/ free patterns, patterns for purchase, discussions
Gladys Thompson, Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans, Fishermen's Sweaters from the British Isles.
http://www.knittingdailytv.com/ Knitting Daily program on http://www.pbs.org/ "Make Time for Yarn Everyday." Free PDF E-book, 40 tips for knitters of all levels, patterns and more.
http://www.lionbrand.com/ since 1878, free patterns, lessons with illustrations and video instruction, help available, yarns, clubs, and more.
http://www.redheart.com/ free patterns, video instructions, yarns
http://www.interweave.com/ learn to knit and crochet, free download.
http://imaginehealing.info/ Joel P. Bowman, Ph.D and Debra Basham, CHTP, NLP. RMT, HTt Create Your Healing Experience!
http://dbasham.blogspot.com/ Yellow Brick Road Your Path to Heart and Health: Patience and Timing.
dahlis.roy@gmail.com Inquiries, Request free PDF E-book, Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision.
Photos by Dahlis: Sky and Rob, sweater match. Our blue merle Collie is Rare Editions Cloudy Sky.
Lion in Winter with knit cap flanked by painting of Estes Park, Colorado
Dahlis with Portrait of *Emaus photo by Rob. Years ago I painted *Emaus, an Arabian Stallion, by *Naborr x *Egreta. The horse, *Emaus, was owned by Lila Bates. Portrait displayed with permission.
Aran Sweater pictured is "The Blue Aran." It sports plain diamonds, ladders of life, small cables, and ribbon stitch, plus lobster claws (up center of sleeve) and double moss (edge stitch for seaming). I love wearing it today!
