Monday, October 02, 2006

Meanwhile, knitting

Nervous fingers need something to do, something productive to work on. I'm truly lousy at waiting and tend to find all kinds of projects and things to immerse myself in when things get really stressfull. Now would be one of those times. So out comes the Patons Classic Wool and a handy pair of needles. Time to start up something for the Red Scarf Project, something cheery and colorful and warm. Oh, and of course I had to mull over stitch patterns, searching for something mindless, gender neutral, yet interesting enough that I'd actually be motivated enough to finish.

Ended up with something very, very loosely based on the whole Prayer Shawl idea. Three stitches each of knit and purl have a wonderful rythmn that is so soothing and easy to follow. But I didn't want something as highly textured as the alternating almost moss stitch pattern used in those shawls, I wanted something that would be a bit more open. So I decided to use a 3 x 3 rib, switching to the opposite stitches whenever the urge hit me. VoilĂ ! Simple knitting with the added thrill of deciding when I want to switch - should it be two rows? Three? Ten? It's going quickly and most importanly, giving me something good to do for someone else. Mission accomplished.