It started with water.

My original idea was to create a pattern that reminded me of summer - the beach, sand, waves. But, through the creative process, something else emerged - basically the opposite of water! I've been calling it my fire design, but haven't landed on a final name for it just yet. But, this is what I love about creating - you can start with an idea, and it can turn into something completely different, and you learn so much along the way!

Today I'm going to talk about what happened to my water idea and how it became it's opposite element - fire!

Like I've said, I wanted to create something that reminded me of water and waves - waves lapping onto a sandy beach. 

The first thing I did was look around at different patterns for inspiration. I landed on a webpage that was all about different lace patterns. I found scroll lace and thought, this is perfect - I'm going to start with this!
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In my original idea, I wanted to also create a faded knit. I wanted the color to start at the bottom of my sample in an ocean water blue and gradually fade to a sandy beach color - a beige, dark gray, or pink would do!

I didn't have those colors on hand, so I searched through my yarn stash and found some different shades of purple and a variegated yarn with those shades of purple in it. My plan was to hold two strands of fingering weight yarn double and fade in different colors as I knit. I also wanted to see how this lace design with look in a variegated yarn.

After trying this for a bit, I decided I wanted my "waves" to be smaller, and the fade idea was looking ok, but I needed to knit this up in a different weight yarn and not hold yarn double. Knitting up lace while holding yarn double was feeling a bit too fiddly for me - I was finding it hard to not split my yarn with each stitch and my knitting pace just didn't feel right!

So, I wanted the lace repeats to be smaller to create smaller "waves", but I decided I also wanted more stockinette stitches to be showing through. So, I considered everything I wanted to create, and I sat down to write up a lace pattern that would get me to where I wanted to go.

I switched to a DK weight yarn I had on hand (a beautiful Malabrigo Arroyo in the colorway Pearl) and switched to smaller needles (US 3 instead of US 6). I went to work knitting up this new pattern that I had written down which had now turned into a variation on scroll lace.

​As this pattern emerged, I thought of another idea. What if I put spaces between the lace pattern repeats to add even more stockinette? So I added stockinette sections in between the lace repeats. Now I was knitting the lace pattern for 6 stitches, then stockinette, then lace, and continuing on like that. I was really enjoying the flow of this pattern, going between creating the lace with its various stitches and then flowing through the familiar stockinette!

As the pattern emerged from my needles, I realized that this design didn't look like waves - it looked like fire! Flames from a fire emerged as I continued to knit! I was really enjoying how this pattern was looking and it was also fun to knit! I had gone from wanting smaller waves to creating these taller fire flames, and I was really enjoying this creative process!

I finished my sample and blocked it. I was already thinking about what fire colors I could use to knit up a final sample - oranges, yellows, reds! I was also having ideas of how I could incorporate this lace pattern into a cowl design bringing in a few more ideas and colors!

I'm so happy with how this design turned out, and I'm getting even more excited to share it with everyone when I write up the final mini pattern and knit up the final sample. I think I'm going to switch to a slightly larger needle size to hopefully have the lace stitches stand out a bit more. After that, I'll start to really dig into this cowl design that's now swimming in my head!

Give That Cast On an Extra Twist
I saw this variation on the backwards loop cast on from @lorilee.beltman and can't wait to try it! It's basically giving each cast on stitch an extra twist and it's supposed to hold those stitches in place better than the regular backwards loop cast on and not steal yarn from neighboring stitches. I'm going to try this when I get to the finger nub sections of the fingerless gloves I'm knitting up - I need to cast on stitches when starting each finger nub!

Vegetables, Fruits, and Other Cute Things
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Stéphanie's Wonderful Makes
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Gary the Traveling Cat
I've started following Gary The Cat ​@greatgramsofgary on all of his adventures! Gary visits the most interesting and beautiful places and he's so adorable!

Painting with Light
This blew my mind! I don't even really understand how @dariustwin does it. But, it's fascinating to see. How do you paint with light? Love this color and beauty!

Shadow Painting
This is an awesome idea from @elisejoy, and I'm excited to try it with my kids this summer! What a great way for people who might not feel like they are artistic to get into art and explore their creativity! Plus, it looks like a lot of fun and a great outdoor activity!