Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Other people's stuff

One thing I notice about knitting is, on the one hand, how exciting it is to see a great pattern we just can't wait to make, and on the other, how exciting it is (or nerve-wracking, but in any case compelling) to tweak said pattern for our own needs.

It might be yarn choice, it might be the addition of a few short rows or some length or toggles or a tie instead of buttons - the thing is, it's fun to put your own mark on an idea. It makes knitting a collective experience no matter how many or few people see you working.

Designing from scratch though - that one has me perplexed. It's a lot of work, writing down what you did and reproducing that exactly, tweaking the idea so it's the most fun possible to knit and maybe even has the most potential for other knitters' personal reworkings, and maybe most of all: just coming up with an idea that is somehow different.

(this last is a challenge in writing as well, so you'd think I'd be immune to it, but - no.)

Anyway if I was a sensible girl I would stick with knitting other people's stuff and maybe tweaking it a little, or maybe not... but it would seem I am not, because all I want to do today is fuss more with the next mystery KAL design and maybe another mystery submission.

Even though I should really write, or at least clear off the kitchen counter.

H'mmmm. Ice cream maybe, while I decide?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sometimes, I think we are related, except you got the knitting adventure gene and I didn't. I'm a strictly by the pattern type.

heklica said...

Very often, all I want to do when I knit is turn off my brain and follow the pattern until I'm numb. For me, knitting is a kind of meditation, and I suppose that's why I hate it when I actually have to do some thinking :)

Karen said...

I'm with Misha on this: while I've written up a few patterns of my own, I'm generally happier messing around with someone else's design. The other thing...just feels a bit too much like work, which I'm generally trying to avoid when I'm knitting.