“But wouldn’t it be cool if you had a flat screen tv that came down on ropes from the slanted part so you could lay in bed and watch it.  No, no, even better, it would connect to your brain waves so when you went into dream sleep it would turn itself off.  No, no, I have an even better idea. It would have a touch screen that said ‘if you don’t press this, the tv will turn off in 2 minutes’ so when you are too tired to reach up, it just turns itself off. ” (He has no television in his house, so the tv itself is all part of the fantasy.)

I was reminded of this when several people asked me how I came up with the idea for Coquille.  It didn’t come to me in a dream, like the Dishcloth Dress.  As many of my patterns, it was born out of a failed project and many “No, no, I have a better idea!”  moments.

I wanted a replacement for my sadly lost Forest Canopy Shawl, to wear with a lighter jacket in fall and spring.  I thought Gaia would be perfect, all the cool kids were making it, so I bought some Kuryeon Sock and cast on.

Gaia required  actual concentration.  I do much of my knitting while doing something else – watching a movie, talking with friends, sitting in meetings.  So, I’m not really paying attention.  I need something to yell, “Pay attention right here!”–  like a marker, or the end of a row.  I kept missing the color changes that signal a stitch pattern change.   I ended up switching rather haphazardly, and frankly, it looked like total crap. (Why don’t I remember to take pictures of the total crap?  Does anyone want to see pictures of  total crap?)

I gave up, ripped it out, and cast on for another pattern.  I tried a variety of small mindless knitting  triangles. None were exactly right, but I kept having the “No, no, I have a better idea!” response.   I tested the small needle/large needle combo based on a Barbara Walker stitch pattern and made a triangle that started on a few stitches and increased.  Nice, but still not exactly what I wanted.  Neither was the yarn, really.  Fantastic Noro colors, but not soft enough.  That’s when I tested the Mini Mochi and began thinking about vertical stripes and more of an oval.  Several “No, no, I have a better idea!” trials later, I decided I had it.  It was so much fun, I made another, and then a large size in the beautiful Swans Island. Just then, I got an email regarding Knitty’s First Fall and figured what the heck, it seemed to fit the issue guidelines.

I was amazed and quite happy to have it accepted.  What has made me even happier is seeing all the “No, no, I have a better idea!” moments on Ravelry and across the blogosphere.  In order to accommodate yarn quantities and gauge variations, people were taking out gussets right and left (and center.)  SophieBegonia wanted to use up yarn, so  she added a few extra gussets in each set and an extra set of garter repeats at each segment.  (She isn’t sure about its usefulness as zombie protection, however.)

Stardiver skipped some large gussets and used the yarn she had left to make icord and tassels.   Plus, she taught me a new word, Aequipecten, the queen scallop.

Julia made her very first shawl by using up leftover sock yarn.

Janine left out a couple of gussets so she wouldn’t need a third ball of Mini Mochi.

And Deenags didn’t adjust anything, but finished with 3 inches left of her chosen yarn.  A real cliff hanger.

The most over the top, or under the sea, version is Yarnlots.

Do go to her blog and look at the other photos.  Not only is the shawl gorgeous, but the photo styling  is really something.  I mean, who has a giant clam shell just waiting for its moment of glory?  Heck, check out all her posts.  They make me want to get on the next plane to Belgium.

The comments have been so nice, especially the “easy and relaxing knit” type – music to my ears.  Thank you for making me look good.

MLE

This link sent by a ‘caring friend.’  However, there is nothing in there about not taking pictures of your vegetables.  The heat and rain have encouraged a bit of wildness in the back 40.

Last summer wasn’t really hot enough for my peppers and eggplant, so I’m really excited to see these.  I think eggplant on the vine are as beautiful as a flower.  On the grill, even lovelier.

Gale is knitting a gorgeous lace stole that reflects Anne Hanson’s appreciation of eggplant loveliness.

I’m starting to think I could skein up my winter squash vines and start knitting they are so long.

I’m not all that thrilled with the quality of these photos.  I am thrilled that Gale (the other Gale) of SheShootsSheepShots, is coming to St. Paul in late September for a weekend workshop on photographing your fiber.  Specifics soon.  I am sure she will accomodate old people’s flower photos as well.

MLE

I came back from the trip of a lifetime to California with my sisters. Mustang convertible.  Ipod with special mix for the DeadHead birthday girl.  Airport sunglasses and headscarves.

Clearly I am not the only dork in the family.

(When I told them I was going to have a pattern in Knitty they couldn’t stop laughing. Knitty dot com. Ha ha ha. They are not knitters, needless to say.)

Went to TNNA

Got back from TNNA to discover that Holley-the-Wonder-Horse had a terrible eye infection.  I discovered that there are such things as animal ophthalmologists (he does horses on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and that horses are extremely susceptible to fungal infections.  I don’t want to gross anyone out, but it became clear that removal of her eye (enucleation) was the most humane choice. Horses apparently adapt very well to having only one eye.  I think it was harder on me than on her, and being out of pain was a big plus, I’m sure. Now she is Holley the One-Eyed-Wonder-Horse.

Then came the visit from my human yarn winder.  He is 10 (!!) and flew alone from Texas.  The first night here he made dinner for us.  “Do you like Chinese food?  Well, really, it’s more Thai.”  The chicken stir fry with rice noodles was quite good, but my stove may never be the same again.

We spent several days at the barn, as JB was very interested in the eye situation, and was quite honored to be the first one riding Holley post-surgery.

Good eye for comparison

Here are some  results of our winding. He chose some yarn for socks as well.

In the middle of his visit I was surprised to see First Fall Knitty out earlier than I thought.  I showed him Coquille, and later he was checking out yarn for winding.  “Maybe,” he said, fondling some Smooshy, “you could use this yarn to make your new pattern for my mom.  She looks pretty in these colors.”  Awww.

MLE

Some of you are visiting from the new Knitty. Thanks for stopping by.

I really started out with an idea of making a vertically striped bandit, and the concept took off from there.

As much fun as the Mini Mochi was (and I made two in two different colors), I really fell in love with the Swans Island version. It is just my color.  Since the Knitty spread didn’t have a picture with the true color and loveliness of the Swans Island, (my fault entirely) I thought I’d share it here.

Thanks especially to Martha and Sarah (incaknits) for the photoshoot.

My 10 year old yarn winding nephew arrived last night from Texas, and we have worked our way through some already.  He wanted to impress me with how much better he is at it now that he is more mature and doesn’t try to go as fast as possible.     I’ll try to get a photo of it.  If it is truly any less fast, you couldn’t tell by me.

MLE