The Tale of the Crafty Crow - Part the First

Generally I don't post about my WIPs. This is down to the fact that I
1) have no creative ideas about photographing said works and
2) have this paranoia that I'll not fulfill my reader's expectations, since I so rarely fulfill my own!

But, this year is my year of embracing challenges, and so I've decided to tell the tale of my designing process with my most recent knit, Corvidae.

(The picture shown here to the right is a beautiful crow, taken by Vincent J. Musi. There's a very cool National Geographic article that goes along with this aviary portrait, if you'd like an interesting read).

I've been interested, for rather a long time now, in the idea of creating my own lace design. And not just any lace design - I'm thinking big(ish) and non-repeating. Something that will create a "picture", something other than cables and colourwork, to create a design feature that would be a flattering focus and unique addition to a simple garment.

Enter the inspiration: a day spent clothes shopping and the lovely black crow.

I like to try on clothes, and see how different shapes actually work on me (usually I'm right about my estimations of what would be good and what would be very, very bad). But there's always those rare pleasant surprises, of which my new little open, short, and drapey cardi is one. I bought it in brown, but it dawned on me that this type of garment would be perfect to try out my lace designing ideas.

The fortuitous swapping of yarn between myself and a particular purple-yarn-loving friend (and you know who you are!) gave me the opportunity to cast on straight away. I knew I wanted something with a very small gauge, and so the springy black sock yarn included in said swap jumped on to my needles and away I went!

At this point I've only completed the right front panel, and am currently knitting on the left one. The lace design (which will be based on the silhouette of a crow) will sit on the back, aligned with the right side. He's going to be big, and he's going to require some extreme mental calisthenics, but I feel ready for the challenge.

Next time: Lace Plotting, and wrapping my brain around it.