Work in Progress

I have been knitting lots and lots the past several weeks.  There's not much else I can do, being all casted up and all.  But it has been time well spent, cranking out holiday gifts and playing with new techniques.

One technique I have been wanting to master is fair isle or intarsia.  Some people seem to consider them two different techniques, but other sources use them interchangably.  For me, I think of fair isle as a more detailed pattern, with a border and other colorwork in addition to a main theme.  Intarsia speaks to me more as a detailed theme, with no border work or frills.  I don't claim to be an expert on the difference, it's just how I am labeling them in my own mind!  The overall idea is the same--using different colors of yarns worked into the main body of your knitting piece.  It is a little tricky, trying to wrangle all these lines of colored yarn that want to make a giant tangle and weaving in the floats so you don't wind up with a mess on the inside of your work.  After a handful of projects, I think I've figured out the basics and now, I can focus on "perfection".

I am definitely NOT perfect.  So maybe, I'll work toward "passable".

In any case, I've been bold with my current work in progress, or WIP as the knitting lingo goes.  I couldn't find a pattern that met all the things I wanted to include, so I've been writing one as I go.  Talk about bravery!  I've just figured out the technique, and here I go, writing a pattern. 

Yes, I may be nuts.  But as the current work is actually turning out like my vision, I think I may be on to something pretty nifty.

I started with a pattern by Sandra Jager, called the Little Bee Chart.  It is pretty darn cute, and an easy ten-stitch repeat.

How cute is that, right?  Check out this bee, close up:

Cay-uuute!

For the body of my project, I wanted a stitch that hinted at honeycomb, but nothing too textured.  Just a taste of comb, really.  So I plunged into the depths of stitch options, and decided that if I did everything that was labeled "purl" in a "knit" instead, I might just get what I wanted:  honeycomb texture.

I think once it is blocked, it will have the effect that I was after.  It's a little lumpy looking in this photo, but in person, it is headed in the direction that I am wanting it to go in.

It's about half-way done, and I am pretty pleased with how it is turning out.  Once my WIP is finished, I'll post both "tah-dah I'm done!" pictures, and the pattern--plus, I'll reveal what this mysterious UFO (that's "unfinished object" for the knitting crowd) actually is intended for!

Stay tuned.  Bzzz bzzz....